Joseph F. Fagan

Memory in the infant

Abstract An interstimulus familiarization technique which combined several important features of previous interstimulus familiarization methods was developed to explore infant retention for visual stimuli. Infants in the age range from 3 to 6 months demonstrated differential fixation time to novel and familiar targets. Novel targets commanded significantly more attention on both immediate and delayed tests of stimulus recognition.

Infants' delayed recognition memory and forgetting.

Abstract Infants 21- to 25-weeks-old devoted more visual fixation to novel than to previously exposed stimuli on immediate and delayed tests of recognition. Abstract black and white patterns were recognized following a 48-hour delay and photos of faces after a 2-week delay. A decline in recognition over 3 hours for targets (face masks) most akin to objects (real faces) in S s environment led to studies of the effect on delayed recognition of exposure to stimuli similar to those to be retained. One-minute delayed recognition for face photos was disrupted by intervening exposure to intermediate similarity stimuli (rotated photos) but was unaffected by exposure to either high (upright photos) or low (rotated line drawings) similarity stimuli. Differentiation among intervening stimuli occurred only for the upright photos used as high-similarity intervening material. In addition, immediate exposure to rotated photos also prevented 3-hour-delayed recognition of upright photos but had no such effect when delayed for 3 hours. The present experiments confirm the existence of long-term recognition memory for pictorial stimuli in the early months of life and show that one source of forgetting is due to a diversion of the infants attention to material bearing some perceptual similarity to the material to be retained. This diversion of attention must occur soon after immediate recognition testing to produce a reduction of recognition and such deleterious effects last for an appreciable period of time.

Infant Recognition Memory and Later Intelligence.

Abstract The present study asked if tests of visual recognition memory during infancy based on differential fixation to novel and previously seen targets are valid predictors of later intelligence for children scoring in the normal to superior range of intelligence. Statistically significant and moderate correlations of .37 and .57 were obtained between infant recognition memory scores obtained at four to seven months and later vocabulary tests of intelligence, for 54 children tested at four and for 39 children seen at seven years, respectively. The coefficients did not vary by sex, and were independent of differences in socio-economic status.

The Fagan test of infant intelligence: A technical summary☆

Abstract The present article summarizes the most recent data on the psychometric properties of the Fagan test of Infant Intelligence. Following a brief discussion of the empirical basis of the Fagan test, a note on the theoretical rationale underlying the test, and a summary of the development of the test, the current status of the Fagan test is presented. The section on current status includes a description of the Fagan test, data and discussions on reliability, validity, and clinical utility, and notes on issues such as cross-cultural utility and affordability. The article concludes with a section on practical implications raised by the transfer of the Fagan test to professionals who are interested in high-risk infants.

The Paired‐Comparison Paradigm and Infant Intelligence

The conference that resulted in this volume brought together a diverse group of behavioral and neuroscientists to exchange paradigms and data so that the search for the neural bases of cognition and a better understanding of the nature and development of cognition can be facilitated. The purpose of this chapter is to present a paradigm based on the infant’s differential visual attention when faced with a new as well as a previously exposed stimulus, a paradigm that indicates cognitive functioning. We begin by specifying a set of operations for testing differential attention to old and new targets. Parameters governing the infant’s differential attention to new and previously seen stimuli are then discussed and inferences about the infant’s cognitive functioning are drawn. Finally, implications arising from the use of the same paradigm to explore the monkey’s attention to novelty are noted. The reader should be warned that the present discussion of the infant’s visual attention to novelty is not meant to be exhaustive. For the most part, it is a relatively detailed exposition of the work of one research program.

The role of simple feature differences in infants' recognition of faces

The features of a face which define its age or sex appear to play a more important role than do the number of simple feature differences between like aged or same sex faces in the 5- to 6-month infants recognition of face photos.

The intelligent infant: Theoretical implications

Abstract In the present essay, the fact that preferences for visual novelty during infancy are related to later performance on intelligence tests was interpreted to mean that intelligence is continuous from infancy. It was suggested that the bases of both continuity and the general factor in intelligence reside in the same small set of basic cognitive processes. It was also noted that intelligent behavior on the part of the infant raises a question about the relative importance of automatic and effortful processes in intelligence. The development of a valid test of infant intelligence was seen as an aid to clarifying the role of hereditary and environmental influences on intelligence and in furthering our understanding of mental retardation. In brief, the manner in which infants distribute their attention to novel and previously exposed stimuli reveals the origins of cognition. The origins of cognition are the origins of intelligence.

VISION, COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GIRLS AND WOMEN WITH RETT SYNDROME

Forty‐two females with Rett syndrome, aged 2.5 to 47 years, were assessed with the Teller Acuity Cards and a new version of the Fagan test for age 2 years and above, and their parents were interviewed about the childrens communication skills. The visual function of the subjects indicated arrested development, and they scored significantly lower on the Fagan test than a normal comparison group. Their visual processing and memory deteriorated somewhat with age, while those of the comparison group showed a slight increase. Both age at onset of Rett syndrome symptomatology and speech measures were inversely correlated with visual processing and memory, indicating that age at recession may have differential consequences for different functions. Among the subjects, persistent looking was associated with low cognitive function. The results have implications for intervention, and demonstrate that the paradigm of preferential looking may be useful in cognitive assessment of females with Rett syndrome.

NEURODEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES OF UGANDAN INFANTS WITH HIV INFECTION : AN APPLICATION OF GROWTH CURVE ANALYSIS

Neurodevelopmental outcomes of human immunodeficiency virus Type 1 (HIV-1)-infected infants of non-drug-using mothers were assessed in a controlled, prospective study from birth to 24 months with 3 groups: 61 infants of HIV-infected mothers, 234 uninfected infants of HIV-infected mothers (seroreverters), and 115 uninfected infants of uninfected mothers. Compared with seroreverters and uninfected infants, HIV-infected infants demonstrated lower mental and motor development on the Bayley Scales and greater deceleration in their rate of motor development. HIV-infected infants with abnormal neurologic exams had lower motor and mental test scores and lower rates of motor Bayley Scales scores than their HIV-infected counterparts with normal neurologic exams. Contrary to prediction, no group differences in mean performance or growth rates were found on visual information processing on the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence.

NEONATAL VISUAL INFORMATION PROCESSING IN COCAINE-EXPOSED AND NON-EXPOSED INFANTS.

This study investigated early neonatal visual preferences in 267 poly drug exposed neonates (131 cocaine-exposed and 136 non-cocaine exposed) whose drug exposure was documented through interviews and urine and meconium drug screens. Infants were given four visual recognition memory tasks comparing looking time to familiarized stimuli of lattices and rectangular shapes to novel stimuli of a schematic face and curved hourglass and bulls eye forms. Cocaine-exposed infants performed more poorly, after consideration of confounding factors, with a relationship of severity of cocaine exposure to lower novelty score found for both self-report and biologic measures of exposure, Findings support theories which link prenatal cocaine exposure to deficits in information processing entailing attentional and arousal organizational systems. Neonatal visual discrimination and attention tasks should be further explored as potentially sensitive behavioral indicators of teratologic effects.