How babies see the world during their first year
The Statistics of Infant First-Person Visual Experience
Researchers will collect head-camera videos and eye and head movement data from infants to show how babies' everyday visual experiences change during their first year.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Trustees of Indiana University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Bloomington, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11170702 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Your baby would wear a small, comfortable head-mounted camera at home for several hours so researchers can capture the visual scenes your infant experiences. During a lab visit, eye and head movements would be measured to pinpoint where your baby is looking. The project will enroll 200 infants across four age groups (2–3, 5–6, 8–9, and 11–12 months) and follow a smaller group of 20 babies at all ages to track change over time. Researchers will analyze the images and movement data to describe how the visual patterns that infants see develop and change.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Healthy infants approximately 2–3, 5–6, 8–9, or 11–12 months old, with some families asked to return for multiple recordings.
Not a fit: This project is observational and does not provide diagnosis or treatment, so infants needing immediate clinical care for vision problems are unlikely to benefit directly.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help doctors spot early signs of visual problems and guide ways to support healthy vision development.
How similar studies have performed: Smaller studies have successfully used infant head cameras and eye tracking, but this large-scale, age-spanning analysis of basic visual statistics is novel.
Where this research is happening
Bloomington, United States
- Trustees of Indiana University — Bloomington, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Smith, Linda B. — Trustees of Indiana University
- Study coordinator: Smith, Linda B.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.