Assessment of infant vernier acuity using the test -pedestal approach.
Item
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Title
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Assessment of infant vernier acuity using the test -pedestal approach.
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Identifier
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AAI9969675
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identifier
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9969675
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Creator
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Bauer, Elizabeth Ann.
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Contributor
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Advisers: Louise Hainline | Israel Abramov
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Date
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2000
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Experimental | Health Sciences, Human Development | Psychology, Cognitive
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Abstract
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The present research sought to (a) investigate a new technique for the assessment of vernier acuity in infants and (b) use this tool to determine whether the limitations underlying vernier acuity are the same as those limiting detection. In this method, the "test-pedestal approach", contrast detection thresholds are measured for a "test" stimulus and for a "pedestal" stimulus; we used a line and an edge as the test and pedestal, respectively. These detection thresholds are then used to predict the low contrast vernier acuity of an edge vernier stimulus, created by adding the test to the pedestal. Vernier acuity of this stimulus is also measured, at several contrast levels, in order to determine the veracity of this method. This technique also provides a way of ascertaining whether the limitations which underlie detection are the same as those which underlie position (i.e. vernier) acuity.;In the first experiment, contrast detection thresholds of the test and the pedestal for five adult subjects were measured using this approach, modified for use with infants. In addition, we measured vernier acuity thresholds at several different contrast levels. The results showed that, with some exceptions, our modified procedure reproduced the results achieved in previous studies. We then extended the research in our second experiment by measuring the test and pedestal detection thresholds of fifteen 4--6-month-old infants. In the third experiment we measured the vernier thresholds of nineteen 4--6-month-old infants at four different contrasts levels. We were then able to use our detection data to determine whether we could predict low contrast vernier acuity from our detection thresholds. The results of these experiments indicated that, as with normal adults, low contrast vernier acuity was in close agreement with the detection threshold of the test. However, the detection results from our edge pedestal were surprisingly high. This necessitated a fourth experiment, in which we investigated whether the inflated pedestal thresholds were an artifact of infant preference. This experiment, in which two other detection stimuli were tested, indicated that the high edge thresholds were probably a function of the unattractiveness of the edge stimulus.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
