Habituation of visual attention in infants with minor physical anomalies.

Human and geometric forms were presented to 12-month-old male infants to determine if those with a large number of minor physical anomalies would show different habituation than infants with a small number. Results from a procedure using human forms in a random order failed to yield differences, but differences in dishabituation did appear when geometric forms were presented in a standard habituation procedure, and in response decrement when subgroups were created to test for differences in infant state as a function of task demands. Slower response decrement found in high-anomaly infants tested in a low task-demand condition was consistent with Lewis's findings in infants with various forms of brain pathology.