Relative Color Contrast Drives Competition in Early Exogenous Orienting.

Young infants typically orient to a moving object, but the strength of this tendency depends on what else is in the visual field, with some objects competing for attention more effectively than others. This competition was studied in 3.5-month-old infants by manipulating the colors and spatial distributions of static elements that appeared with a small moving probe. The hypothesis was that the competition from these static bars would depend on their color contrasts. Three different color pairings were used: red with green, pink with green, and red with pink. The results were generally consistent with the hypothesis that the competition from static elements in the visual field depends on their color contrasts. Orienting at 3.5 months is determined by competition mechanisms that weight motion and color and most probably other stimulus characteristics to produce a directional response.