Visual Development in Premature Infants

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT IN PREMATURE INFANTS
William V. Good M.D.
Senior Scientist, Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute San Francisco


The goal of this project is to study the way in which vision develops in premature infants, compared to full term infants. Infants born prematurely are vulnerable to the effects of early birth, but they also have more visual experience in the first year of life. We are evaluating these questions using the sweep visual evoked potential, a technique that can be employed to evaluate visual acuity in preverbal children.