Monitoring visual activity in infant rhesus monkeys: Method and calibration

Mendelson, Morton J.; Haith, Marshall M.; Goldman‐Rakic, Patricia S.

doi:10.3758/bf03207955

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The obtained pattern of change (viz., from Week 1 to Week 3 with little subsequent change) was similar to the pattern of results in a study efface scanning with eight of the same monkeys (Mendelson et al, 1981). During Week 1, monkeys did not differentiate between pictures of faces looking back at them and faces looking away; in contrast, during Weeks 3 and 7, monkeys fixated the faces looking back less than the faces looking away.…”

Section: Age-related Changes In Looking At Geometric Formssupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Visual activity was recorded with an infrared cornealreflection technique (see Figure 1), adapted from Haith (1969) for use with infant monkeys (details provided in Mendelson, Haith, & Goldman-Rakic, 1981). The experimenter held the infant monkey so that it faced a stimulus panel approximately 23 cm away.…”

Section: Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The field of the video camera was very small (approximately 2 cm high, wide, and deep), so there was no room for error in positioning the monkey. Moreover, it is literally impossible to make a monkey look somewhere on cue, as attested to by hours in the lab obtaining calibration data (seeMendelson et al, 1981).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Scanning of compound geometric forms in infant rhesus monkeys.

Mendelson¹,

Haith²,

Goldman‐Rakic³

1983

Developmental Psychology

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Human infants younger than 2 months scan predominantly the external contours of compound figures; in contrast, 2-month-olds scan internal and external features of such patterns. We examined whether infant rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatto) show a similar shift over the first weeks of life. Visual activity was monitored while monkeys viewed squares with internal details, a square without internal details, and the internal details alone. Infant monkeys scanned the internal details of compound figures even during the first week of life. By Weeks 3 and 7, monkeys scanned the internal details less, increasing fixations of the external contour. Amount of looking during the first week was influenced predominantly by the number of elements in a pattern; in contrast, at Weeks 3 and 7 it was influenced foremost by the amount of perimeter and secondarily by the number of elements. The differences between visual activity in rhesus and human infants are discussed.A number of important changes in visual functions occur in human infants at about 2 months of age (cf. Haith & Campos, 1977). One of these changes is the externality effect. Human infants under 2 months of age attend predominantly to the external contours of compound figures, whereas 2-month-old infants attend to the internal features as much as-if not more than-the external contours.

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Section: Age-related Changes In Looking At Geometric Formssupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scanning of compound geometric forms in infant rhesus monkeys.

Mendelson¹,

Haith²,

Goldman‐Rakic³

1983

Developmental Psychology

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“…The needfor calibrating an instrument so that the direction of the subject's eyeis precisely mapped onto stimulus space is self-evident, and there are various schemes for doing this (Bullinger & Kaufmann, 1977); Carmody, Kundel, & Nodine, 1980;Harris, Hainline, & Abramov, 1981;Kliegl & Olson, 1981;Mendelson, Haith, & This work: was supported in part by Grants 13484 and 662199 from the PSC-CUNY Research Award Program and NIH Grant EY-03957. The authors' mailing address is: Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College of CUNY, Brooklyn.…”

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confidence: 99%

Instrument considerations in measuring fast eye movements

Harris

Abramov

Hainl

1984

Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers

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The dynamic limitations of eye movement recorders can distort the measurement of fast eye movements such as saccades and nystagmic quick phases. In this paper, the effects of the bandwidth and noise of recording methods and the problems incurred by digital sampling are discussed theoretically with respect to the measurement of peak velocity and duration offast eye movements. As a practical example, a TV-based infrared corneal reflex system is examined and a method for calibrating it for peak velocity measurement is described.The measurement of eye movements (EMs) is becoming increasingly relevant in fields other than those concerned with the analysis of the oculomotor system itself. For example, correlations between unusual EMs and neurological pathologies have been made by Hamann (1979) and Zee, Optican, Cook, Robinson, and Engel (1976). There is also a large body of literature on the relationship between reading and EMs (e.g., Levy-Schoen & O' Regan, 1979). Furthermore, EM measurement is beginning to be usedin the developmental studyof the human infant (Aslin & Salapatek, 1975;Hainline, 1981). Each application of EM measurements has its own technological priorities. Some research questions require that the measuring system have great speed and resolution, whereas others require that intrusiveness upon the subject be minimized. In most current systems, there is a tradeoff among resolution, intrusiveness, and, of course, cost.The various instruments and their meritshave been discussed elsewhere (e.g., see Young & Sheena, 1975, for a comprehensive review). However, for efficientprogress, it is essential to be able to compare data from different instruments in different settings. To this end, McConkie (1981) stressed the need for investigators to report the quality of their data, such as sampling rate, drift, noise, accuracy, and short-and long-term repeatability. But such reporting necessitates an intimate understanding of one's EM recording instrument.The needfor calibrating an instrument so that the direction of the subject's eyeis precisely mapped onto stimulus space is self-evident, and there are various schemes for doing this (Bullinger & Kaufmann, 1977) Goldman-Rakic, 1981).It is less appreciated, though, that even an accurate mapping procedure does notcalibrate the instrument for all purposes. For example, during measurement of fast EMs such as saccades or nystagmic quick phases, the bandwidth and noise of the recording system can degrade the recording of dynamic responses. The most commonly used parameters for describing fast EMs are peak velocity (PV) and duration. In this paper, wediscuss the general effects of a system's bandwidth and noise on the measurement of these twoparameters of fast EMs. As an example, we present the results of a dynamic calibration of a TV-based, infrared, corneal-reflex system (Hainline, 1981) for the measurement of PV. Although this kind of instrument is certainly less than ideal for recording fast EMs, it has. the advantage of being nonintrusive to the subject, which makes...

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Visual and social responses in infant rhesus monkeys

Mendelson

1982

American J Primatol

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This paper reviews a program of research on the development of visual functions and social responsiveness in infant rhesus monkeys (Macuca mulutta). One study involved a clinical examination of simple visual reflexes (e.g., orienting) and more complex visuo-motor responses (e.g., gaze aversion and reaching). Such responses changed dramatically over the first two weeks of life. Two other studies used infrared corneal-reflection techniques to monitor visual scanning: One determined when infant monkeys became sensitive to the direction of a conspecific's gaze. By week three, rhesus monkeys scanned faces looking back at them less than faces looking away. The other study investigated whether, like human infants, young monkeys shift from scanning external contours of a pattern to scanning internal details. Unlike human infants, however, young monkeys shifted from proportionally more internal scanning to proportionally more external scanning. As a whole, the studies demonstrated rapid development of visual functions and visually cued social responses and raised important questions for future research.Key words: Macaca mulatta, rhesus monkey, visual reflexes, infants, development, gaze aversion, corneal-reflection technique INTRODUCTIONPart of a research program on visual and social development in the infant rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) is described here. One study involved a clinical examination of simple visual and social functions in the first three weeks of life [Mendelson, 19821. Two other studies used infrared corneal-reflection techniques [Mendelson et al, 19811 to explore scanning of faces IMendelson et al, 1982aj and scanning of geometric forms [Mendelson et al, 1982b] during the first seven weeks of life. Although limited to a short age span, the studies uncovered dramatic changes in perceptual functions and social responses. An overview of the methods used and of the developmental changes observed is presented here. 334 Mendelson A Clinical Examination of Visual FunctionsBehavioral research on vision in infant monkeys has typically been limited to paradigms using motor responses and learning techniques [see Boothe & Sackett, 1975 for a review]. With the exception of the forced-choice preferential looking paradigm [e.g., Teller et al, 1978) and habituation paradigms [e.g., Swartz, 19821 that have only recently been used with monkeys, these methods are not useful for studying young infants. Consequently, there is very little information on visual functions in the young monkey. I t was necessary to collect normative data from a battery of tests which assessed simple reflexes, visuo-motor functions, and social responses in early infancy [Mendelson, 19821. Fifteen rhesus monkeys (eight males and seven females) served as subjects. They were received in the laboratory as early as their day of birth, but not later than five days of age. They were reared in a primate nursery according to standard procedures [Bowden et al, 19711. Although housed in individual cages, they had visual, auditory, and some physical ...

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Monitoring visual activity in infant rhesus monkeys: Method and calibration

Cited by 5 publications

References 13 publications

Scanning of compound geometric forms in infant rhesus monkeys.

Scanning of compound geometric forms in infant rhesus monkeys.

Instrument considerations in measuring fast eye movements

Visual and social responses in infant rhesus monkeys

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