Your baby was able to notice differences in light before they were born. But the opportunities for visual stimulation before birth are limited and so their vision develops considerably after they are born as they experience new sights. Visual development involves developments in the eye, for example, those that give greater clarity of vision and the ability to see colours, shapes, textures and lighting levels more clearly. Visual development also involves development in the brain as your baby begins to understand what they see and link this to information from their other senses.
The word forevation is used to describe looking at the item that interests you and being able to pick this out and focus on it rather than on the other things that you can see. [1] Your baby will have been more interested in looking at faces since they were born but their ability to focus on a specific item develops as their vision develops.
As your baby develops, their ability to control their eye movements develops and you have probably noticed that they can follow a moving object with their eyes now. They will also begin to develop the ability to control their visual attention, this means that they will choose what to look at and look at things that interest them for longer. This can be really useful for you as you think about your responses to them and supporting their development. When you notice what your child is looking at, you can comment on that object and this will help them to link the words that you say to the things that interest them.
Your baby will not only be interested in toys and objects but will also continue to be interested in people. It is thought that your baby’s developing ability to control their attention will support them to develop their understanding of people as they are able to find and watch people’s faces amongst a background with other visual distractions. [2]
Your baby’s ability to control their visual attention will continue to develop and this will enable them to pick out things that interest them when they are further away. As your baby’s vision and control of what they look at continues to develop they will use this to help them to make choices about what they would like to explore. When they are able to move, they will move towards objects that interest them and explore them using their hands and mouth.
References
[1] Slater, A (2001) Visual Perception. In Bremner, J.G. & Fogel, A.(Eds.) (2001) Blackwell Handbook of Infant Development. Oxford: Blackwell.
[2] Frank, M.C, Amso, D. & Johnson, S.P. (2014) Visual search and attention to faces during early infancy. Journals of Experimental Child Psychology. 118. pp. 13-26.