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Tonic and phasic orientation in full-term and preterm infants

N Foreman1, A Fielder, D Price

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Leicester, UK.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|June 1, 1991
PubMed

Insights

Infant attention development, including visual orienting, appears biologically timed. Both preterm and full-term infants show similar developmental trends, suggesting limited impact from early extrauterine experiences on these attentional behaviors.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Pediatrics

Background:

  • Infant attention is crucial for learning and development.
  • Understanding the developmental trajectories of different attentional components is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the developmental timelines of phasic (attention-getting) and tonic (attention-holding) orienting in infants.
  • To compare attentional development in preterm versus full-term infants.

Main Methods:

  • Tested 33 full-term and 38 preterm infants (mean 30 weeks gestation) on visual orienting responses.
  • Measured latency to turn toward stimuli (phasic) and duration of initial fixation (tonic).
  • Analyzed data against postconceptional age.

Main Results:

  • Turning latency decreased linearly from 36 to 120 weeks postconception.
  • Fixation duration decreased abruptly around 53 weeks postconception.
  • Preterm and full-term infants exhibited similar developmental trends for both orienting types.
  • Phasic orientation was faster in preterm infants within the first 30 days, with no difference in fixation times.

Conclusions:

  • Infant visual orienting behaviors (phasic and tonic) follow biologically determined developmental timetables.
  • Premature birth and extrauterine experience appear to have minimal impact on these specific attentional development trends.
  • Phasic and tonic orienting develop independently in early infancy and are not fully mature at birth.

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