Postnatal Development of Vision in Human and Nonhuman Primates

Abstract

In this chapter we summarize the growing literature on the optical , anatomical, physiological, and behavioral development of vision in human and nonhuman primates. The literature in this area is new and diverse, and to our knowledge it has not been previously reviewed as a whole . Emphasis is on postnatal development, in both its normal and its most common abnormal forms. All monkeys in the studies reviewed were Old World monkeys . References to the large body o f developmental studies o n nonprimate spe­ cies have been omitted (for reviews see Grobstein & Chow 1976, Tees 1976, Movshon & Van Sluyters 1981, Sherman & Spear 1982, Mitchell & Timney 1984). We have also omitted a large body of literature on embryology and prenatal anatomical development (see Rakic & Goldman-Rakic 1982, van Hof-van Duin & Mohn 1984). Of necessity, extended discussions of theoretical issues are precluded. Extended works on the topic of visual development can be found in Banks & Salapatek (1983), Aslin et al (1981), and the October 1983 issue of Behavioural Brain Research. A major reason for studying the development of vision in monkeys is to establish and use the monkey as a model for studying normal and abnormal human visual development. Many of the behavioral and anatomical studies reviewed below suggest major similarities of development, with rough parity at birth, and development proceeding about four times faster in Old World monkey infants than in human infants. To emphasize this 4: 1 conversion factor