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The gaze stability of 4- to 10-week-old human infants

Eric S Seemiller1, Nicholas L Port1, T Rowan Candy1

  • 1Indiana University School of Optometry, Bloomington, IN, USA.

Journal of Vision
|September 1, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Infant gaze stability is comparable to adults, indicating it does not limit early visual development. This finding suggests that gaze stability is not a primary factor affecting retinal image quality in newborns.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental neuroscience
  • Ophthalmology
  • Visual perception

Background:

  • Gaze stability impacts visual acuity in adults.
  • Retinal image quality may influence gaze stability.
  • Infant gaze stability is poorly understood despite known visual immaturities.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize gaze stability in young infants (4-10 weeks old).
  • To compare infant gaze stability with adult norms.
  • To determine if gaze instability limits early visual development.

Main Methods:

  • Recorded binocular eye positions of infants and adults viewing a dynamic random-noise stimulus.
  • Analyzed stable intersaccade gaze epochs (5-s) after removing saccades.
  • Calculated bivariate contour ellipse area and standard deviations of vergence.

Main Results:

  • Infant gaze stability metrics (bivariate contour ellipse area, vergence stability) were not significantly different from adult values.
  • Geometric means for infant bivariate contour ellipse area: left eye = -0.697 ± 0.534 log(°2), right eye = -0.471 ± 0.367 log(°2).
  • Geometric means for infant vergence stability: horizontal = -1.057 ± 0.743 log(°), vertical = -1.257 ± 0.573 log(°).

Conclusions:

  • Gaze stability in young infants is similar to that of adults.
  • Gaze instability is unlikely to be a significant limiting factor for retinal image quality and spatial vision in early postnatal development.

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