Date of Award
5-1976
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Jim Boismier
Second Advisor
Sheldon Hendricks
Third Advisor
William Callahan
Abstract
The relationship between patterned visual stimulation and behavior in newborn human infants has been studied in a variety of situations (Fantz, 196 3; Hershenson, 1965; Haith, 1965; Bruner, 1968; Salapatek, 1968; Wagner, 1972; Friedman 1972; Boismier, 1972). Typically, the effect of visual stimulation on the behavior of newborn infants during the feeding period has not been studied. This omission may in part be related to studies by Haith (1965) and Bruner (1968) who, in the investigation of the effects of visual stimulation on nonnutritive.sucking rates, concluded that newborns are virtually incapable of looking and sucking at the same time. Bruner, for example, states that, "at birth and for some days after, the infant sucks with eyes tight shut. If the infant looks, sucking is disrupted" (p. 18). If looking does in fact disrupt sucking in the newborn, a question may be raised regarding the appropriateness of visual stimulation during the feeding period. That is, if visual stimulation during the feeding period generates an increase in looking and a corresponding decrease in sucking, will nutritional deficiency also occurs as a result of visual stimulation during the feeding period?
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Robert H., "The Effect of Patterned Visual Stimulation on Visual Activity and Feeding Behavior During the Feeding Period in Human Newborn Infants" (1976). Student Work. 277.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/277