The Neural Basis for Visual Selective Attention in Young Infants: A Computational Account

Recent work by Amso and Johnson (Developmental Psychology, 42(6), 1236–1245, 2006) implicates the role of visual selective attention in the development of perceptual completion during early infancy. In the current article, we extend this finding by simulating the performance of 3-month-old infants on a visual search task, using a multi-channel, image-filtering model of early visual processing. Model parameters were systematically varied to simulate developmental change in three neural components of visual selective attention: degree of oculomotor noise, growth of horizontal connections in visual cortex, and duration of recurrent processing in parietal cortex. While two of the three components—horizontal connections and recurrent parietal processing—are each able to account for the visual search performance of 3-month-olds, recurrent parietal processing also suggests a coherent pattern of developmental change in visual selective attention during early infancy. We conclude by highlighting plausible neural mechanisms for modulating recurrent parietal activity, including the development of feedback from prefrontal cortex.