Changes in visual functions of children exposed as infants to prolonged illumination.

The visual system can be modified by early experience. Many infants requiring extensive medical treatment spend time in neonatal intensive care units in which they experience prolonged and relatively intense illumination. Visual functions were measured in a group of 7-year-old children who, as infants, were in intensive care for treatment of neonatal jaundice. Using procedures disguised as games, these children were tested for spatial and temporal resolution, receptor functions, and binocular vision. Especially in children whose eyes had not been shielded, deficits were found in color vision, spatial contrast sensitivity, and stereopsis, but not in rod vision.