ABSTRACT: Although individual differences in visual habituation have long been interpreted in terms of processes derived
 from comparator theory, research over the last decade has suggested that arousal or arousability as manifest in sensitization
 may contribute to infants' attentional profiles, and thus, to individual differences in those profiles. We explored this possibility
 by habituating 4-month-old infants to 4 * 4, 10 * 10, or 20 * 20 checkerboards in a fixed-trial paradigm, The first specific
 aim was to examine the attentional characteristics of infants with habituation patterns showing sensitization versus those that
 did not. The second specific aim was to determine whether patterns of attention suggestive of sensitization effects reported in
 past research might be attributable to the use of illuminated interstimulus intervals (ISls). Trends were observed for
 sensitization to occur more frequently with more complex than with less complex checkerboards. Infants who showed looking
 patterns characteristic of sensitization looked longer and did not habituate as readily as infants who did not show sensitization.
 Finally, different ISls did not engender different levels of sensitization, but dark ISls significantly increased infants' looking
 times to stimuli during trials. ((c) 1998 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)

 DESCRIPTORS:
        (*=Major)
                 Attention * | Individual Differences * | Interstimulus Interval * | Visual Perception * | (Childhood)
                 (Habituation) (Illumination) (Infants)
   KEY PHRASE:
                 attentional characteristics & illuminated interstimulus intervals, sensitization & individual differences in
                 visual habituation, 4 mo olds
  CLASS. CODE:
                 Cognitive & Perceptual Development (2820)
   AGE GROUP:
                 Childhood (birth-12 yrs) | Infancy (1-23 mo)
  POPULATION:
                 Human
       UPDATE:
                 19980301