Spatiotemporal Regularity and Interevent Contingencies as Information for Infants’ Visual Expectations

This study examined infants’ use of picture-location contingencies and spatiotemporal regularity in forming visual expectations. Ninety-six 3-month-olds watched an event sequence in which pictures appeared at 3 locations, either in regular leftcenter-right alternation or in a random center-side pattern. For half of the infants, the content of the central picture was predictive of the location of the upcoming peripheral event. Analyses of anticipations and interpicture fixation shifts revealed that both spatiotemporal regularity and consistent interevent contingencies fostered increased anticipation of peripheral pictures. The type of spatiotemporal sequence that infants observed also differentially biased their responses to test trials that followed the picture sequence: Infants who experienced regular alternation sequences continued the side-to-side pattern during the 2-choice test trials, whereas infants who experienced irregular sequences looked back to the location of the previous picture. Stable interevent contingencies, in contrast, did not bias infants’ responses toward the contingent side during the choice test trials.