Eye-movement control in newborns in darkness and in unstructured light.

Infrared television recordings were made of newborn visual activity in darkness and in the presence of uniform light fields under monocular and binocular viewing conditions. Out-of-control eye movements were substantially more frequent in light than in dark for both groups. Thus, earlier findings of more out-of-control activity in light than in darkness are not attributable to monocular viewing or to the presence of distracting contours produced by an eye patch. A distinction between exogenous and endogenous control of eye movements in newborns in supported.