Newborns come equipped with an array of sensory capabilities. In the 1950s, the emergence of reliable nonverbal techniques for testing infants opened the floodgates for research

Two techniques that emerged during this time period were the preferential-looking technique and the habituation-dishabituation technique. Define each of these terms and explain how these research techniques help answer questions related to visual discrimination.

What will be an ideal response?

The preferential-looking technique is a technique where researchers can infer that infants can see a difference between patterns, if they consistently look longer at some patterns than at others. This technique addresses the question: "Is the perception of different forms innate or learned?" The habituation-dishabituation technique is where infants are shown a stimulus repeatedly until they respond less (habituate) to it. Then, a new stimulus is presented. This technique addresses the question: "What if infants can see the difference between stimuli, but find both stimuli to be equally interesting?"