# The development of visual behavior in infancy

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2022 · $376,242

## Abstract

Project Summary
There is a significant gap in our knowledge in the field of infant cognition, namely little is known about the
development of visual processing in complex visual arrays in healthy development. The long-term objective of
this project is to provide understanding into the nature of the development of infants’ looking and visual
processing, as well as to uncover relations between infants’ looking and learning. That is, because infants rely
even more heavily than do adults on visual processing to gain information about the world, understanding the
factors that influence where and how long infants look, as well as how those factors determine what infants
learn, is critical for a complete understanding of healthy development. To accomplish this objective we will
undertake 2 specific aims. First the research team will conduct work aimed at understanding infants’ learning to
look. By examining how factors such as meaning, salience, and familiarity determines where and how long
infants look, we gain understanding into the factors that influence visual processing, as well as how the
development of the visual system helps infants balance competing influences on looking. Second, the research
team will conduct work aimed at understanding infants’ looking to learn. Infants’ looking behavior is active and
allows them to sample information about the visual world. By investigating how differences in infants’ looking
behavior translates to differences in what infants learn and remember about visual arrays, we can construct an
understanding of how changes in in the visual system influence what infants learn about the visual world. By
accomplishing these aims the research team will not only gain insight into the typical development of the visual
system in healthy infants, but also will provide insight into points of vulnerability in that development and how
multiple factors influence that development. In addition, because the research team will use complex visual
arrays, such as natural scenes, this work will provide information about how looking and learning from looking
develops in contexts that mimic the infants’ everyday experience as well as make connections with work
conducted with adults.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10401815
- **Project number:** 5R01EY030127-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** LISA M OAKES
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $376,242
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-01 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10401815

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10401815, The development of visual behavior in infancy (5R01EY030127-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10401815. Licensed CC0.

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