The goal of this research program is to better understand how vision develops in early infancy. We have several ongoing studies:

Motion, Color, and Face Processing in Infants:
The vision tests we use are non-invasive and carefully designed to assess specific visual functions such as face, color and motion processing. During each visit (which may last 30-60 minutes) we observe whether your infant looks at patterns on a computer monitor. If your infant gets fussy, hungry or sleepy, we stop testing for a break.

Clinical Vision Study (Open to ALL ages):
We hope to better understand how motion and color perception is altered in individuals were born with visual or eye disorders. We also want to study participants before and after treatment, to see how effective various treatments are.
 
We are currently seeking individuals who have or had the following conditions:
* Cataracts in one or both eyes
* High myopia (severe refractive error in both eyes)
* Anisometropia (severe refractive error in one eye)
* Strabismus (specifically, when one eye turns inward)
* Nystagmus (jittery motion of eyes)
* Ptosis (eyelid droops low)
* Amblyopia (reduced visual sensitivity)
 
Infants of all ages are welcome, but we are especially interested in testing 1 to 8-month olds.

Preterm Vision Study:
If an infant is born early, does this mean the infant has “extra” visual experience that provides a jumpstart to visual development? We are addressing this question in infants under 1 year of age who were born at least 5 weeks prematurely. We welcome infants who may have a condition called Retinopathy of Prematurity (also called ROP) in which the eye is especially immature at birth, but often, no treatment is needed.
 
Twin and Multiples Study:
How similar are siblings’ visual abilities? We are investigating vision in fraternal and identical twins, under 1 year of age, as a way to tease apart genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to visual development.
 

Rain Bosworth, Ph.D.

Karen Dobkins, Ph.D.

Vivian Ciaramitaro, Ph.D

Vanitha Sampath, M.S.

Marie Chuldzhyan, B.A.