Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Group

Our research program has three interrelated objectives. The first is to describe and understand the early development of important human visual functions such as spatial vision, color vision, and refraction. More recently, we have broadened this objective to include research on cognitive functions such as visual attention and memory. An important feature of this work is our use of both behavioral (e.g. looking) and psychophysiological (e.g., heart rate) measures in the examination of infant attention. Where possible we also try to integrate findings from our research with neuroscience-based models of brain development. The second objective is to design new time-efficient psychophysical tests that measure visual functioning (e.g., contrast sensitivity, attention) in infants and children. We anticipate that these tests will also have research application and commercial potential. The third objective is to use the best available techniques to assess the development of visual functioning and information processing in broader populations of infants and children such as those with iron deficiency, high refractive error or with neurological dysfunction. Specifically, we want to field-test and in particular, evaluate the practical utility of the new tests that are designed in our laboratory. Although each experiment we conduct is designed to address a specific question pertinent to one of the long-term objectives, an underlying goal is to conduct research that addresses questions of basic science and of practical application. Collectively, the results of this work will interest a wide variety of researchers, for instance, those who wish to understand the origins of the complex mechanisms that mediate vision and visual information processing; those would wish to identify aspects of the natural environment that capture infants' attention and potentially facilitate learning; those who wish to identify the behavioral correlates of early (and likely immature) anatomical and physiological development; and those of wish to generate new tools for measuring early sensory functioning.