Attention and recognition memory in the 1st year of life: a longitudinal study of preterm and full-term infants

Several aspects of visual attention and their implications for recognition memory were examined in a longitudinal sample of full-term and preterm (birth weight < 1,750 g) infants seen at 5, 7, and 12 months of age. At all 3 ages, full-terms had shorter look durations, faster shift rates, less off-task behavior, and higher novelty scores than preterms. Both groups followed similar developmental trajectories, with older infants having shorter looks and more shifts. Infants were consistent in attentional style across problems of the same type, across problems that used different types of stimuli (faces and patterns), and across the familiarization and test phases of this paired-comparison design; there was also modest cross-age stability. Shorter looks and higher shift rates during familiarization were related to better recognition memory, with shift rate adding to prediction independently of either peak or mean look. These findings underscore the importance of attention to infant information processing.