Development of the ability to detect visual motion in infant macaque monkeys

A preferential looking technique was used to measure detection of visual motion by 12 infant macaque monkeys (10 Macaca fuscata and 2 Macaca mulatta at ages between 1 and 100 days). A 0.25 cycles/deg square-wave grating was presented at speeds from 40 to 0.4 deg/s. The threshold was determined by a two-alternative forced-choice preferential looking method, in conjunction with a staircase procedure. The threshold for detection of visual motion decreased exponentially with age over the first 100 days of life. At each age there was substantial variability among the individual infants tested, but each monkey's ability to detect visual motion improved with age.