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The Newborn

Visual
Perception of
Infants

What Can They See?

An Overview of What to
Expect
At birth, their visual
capabilities are limited as it
is the least developed sense.
However, they can detect
brightness and movement
and can visually track an
object

Inside you will learn about

an infants

Visual Acuity
Color Perception
Depth Perception
Visual Preferences

Things to Keep in
Mind
Although newborns visual
perception is limited at birth, it
develops rapidly as the brain
continues to grow and new
experiences are encountered.
Because of their poor contrast
sensitivity, babies prefer
patterns with high visual
contrast.
Be weary of leaving your baby
on a tall surface before 3-5
months of age, as their depth
perception has yet to develop!
Your baby will learn to
recognize familiar faces as well
as facial expressions so
exposure is key!

A guide to
understanding their
visual capabilities

Nina Wheeler

How do Infants Visually Perceive the World?

~Visual Acuity~
The sharpness of an infants visual field
Poor at birth
Cannot perceive whole forms but some
elements may attract attention
o Poor contrast sensitivity:
underdeveloped cones in fovea of
eye
o Therefore, they prefer to look at
patterns with high contrast
o Can scan perimeter of shapes at 1
month, 2 months both perimeter and
interior
Improves rapidly
o 8 months approaches adult, full adult

by 6 years of age

~Color & Depth Perception~

Limited color vision
Catch up to that of adults by 2-3 months of
age
o At birth, have a higher sensitivity to
medium wavelengths and less to short
and long
o At 1 week, can discriminate light red
from gray
o At 2 months, can discriminate light
blue from gray
Not born with depth perception, must
develop
Visual experiences and further brain
development depth perception utilization at
3-5 months of age

~Visual Preferences~
Drawn to faces from birth
o General bias towards
configurations with more
elements in upper half than
lower
After 12 hours of cumulative
exposure, an infant begins to
recognize and prefer his/her
mothers face
Develop understanding for facial
expressions with experience
Prefer attractive faces because of
facial symmetry