| Abstract: | This study examined scalp‐recorded, event‐related potential (ERP) indexes of saccade planning in 20‐week‐old infants. A spatial cuing procedure was used in which the infants were presented with a central fixation stimulus and a peripheral cue. A peripheral target followed the cue on the ipsilateral or contralateral side of the cue. The procedure resulted in covert orienting of attention in these participants, reflected in behavioral (e.g., response facilitation or inhibition of return depending on cue‐target stimulus‐onset asynchrony) and ERP (P1 facilitation to ipsilateral target) indexes of covert orienting of attention. A presaccadic ERP that occurred over the frontal cortex about 50 msec before the saccade onset was largest when the saccade was to a target in a cued location. A presaccadic ERP potential that occurred about 300 msec before the saccade onset was largest for the saccades toward the cued location whether the target was present or not. These results suggest that saccade planning occurs in infants at this age and that infant saccade planning is controlled by cortical systems. |
