Journal article
The development of visual pursuit during the first months of life.
- Lengyel D Department of Strabismus and Neuroophthalmology, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, Switzerland.
- Weinacht S
- Charlier J
- Gottlob I
- 1998-07-01
Published in:
- Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie. - 1998
Aging
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Photic Stimulation
Pursuit, Smooth
Saccades
Vision, Ocular
Visual Acuity
English
BACKGROUND
There are few previous investigations of smooth pursuit in infants. The aim of our study was to quantify visual pursuit in infants between 1 day and 16 weeks of age.
METHODS
Eye movements of 97 healthy infants between 1 day and 16 weeks of age were recorded one to seven times with infrared photo-oculography. For stimulation of visual pursuit a square of 9.4 deg of visual angle with vertical gratings moved horizontally at a constant velocity of 7.5 deg/s.
RESULTS
In the first 2 weeks of life, segments of smooth pursuit were measured with a maximum velocity of 7.93 deg/s, with a maximum gain of 1.06 and a maximal duration of 3.16 s. In sequential recordings no significant increases of velocity, gain or duration were found. However, the total time the subjects followed the stimulus with smooth plus saccadic pursuit increased significantly with age (from a median of 39.0% to a median of 61.5% of examination time).
CONCLUSION
This study clearly demonstrates that smooth pursuit is already present in the first week of life. We found no significant increase in velocity, gain and duration of smooth pursuit segments in the first 16 weeks of life with our recording technique. However, the total pursuit time, reflecting attention, increased with age. The ocular machinery to drive pursuit appears to be in place at birth and seems not to be influenced by increased attention in the first months of life.
There are few previous investigations of smooth pursuit in infants. The aim of our study was to quantify visual pursuit in infants between 1 day and 16 weeks of age.
METHODS
Eye movements of 97 healthy infants between 1 day and 16 weeks of age were recorded one to seven times with infrared photo-oculography. For stimulation of visual pursuit a square of 9.4 deg of visual angle with vertical gratings moved horizontally at a constant velocity of 7.5 deg/s.
RESULTS
In the first 2 weeks of life, segments of smooth pursuit were measured with a maximum velocity of 7.93 deg/s, with a maximum gain of 1.06 and a maximal duration of 3.16 s. In sequential recordings no significant increases of velocity, gain or duration were found. However, the total time the subjects followed the stimulus with smooth plus saccadic pursuit increased significantly with age (from a median of 39.0% to a median of 61.5% of examination time).
CONCLUSION
This study clearly demonstrates that smooth pursuit is already present in the first week of life. We found no significant increase in velocity, gain and duration of smooth pursuit segments in the first 16 weeks of life with our recording technique. However, the total pursuit time, reflecting attention, increased with age. The ocular machinery to drive pursuit appears to be in place at birth and seems not to be influenced by increased attention in the first months of life.
- Language
-
- English
- Open access status
- closed
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1007/s004170050103
- PMID 9646089
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/818
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