Infant attention, heart rate, and looking time during habituation/dishabituation

Six-month-olds (N=60) were tested in a habituation/dishabituation paradigm during which their heart rate was recorded. In the attention getter condition a salient stimulus appeared prior to each trial. In the no attention getter condition a blank slide appeared. It was hypothesized that the attention getter would lead to a heart rate decrease putting the infant into a state of sustained attention, and facilitate infants' encoding of the habituation stimulus. The encoding hypothesis was strongly supported. Infants in the attention getter condition showed shorter looking times during habituation and correspondingly an increased dishabituation response.