Posted on April 12: First Sight: What Babies See

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/TerriLewiscropped.jpg” caption=”Prof. Terri Lewis”]Imagine creating an eye chart for someone who can't read or tell you what they see.

This is only one of the many challenges vision scientists have faced when they have tried to determine what babies see. Psychology professor Terri Lewis has some fascinating stories to share about her research with newborns that will be the subject of her Science in the City lecture tomorrow (April 13).

Titled First Sight: What Babies See, Lewis will discuss her research — the challenges she's faced and the discoveries she's made in her studies of a newborn baby's vision. She has tested newborns in their first hour of life and as early as seven minutes after birth.

Some of her projects were highlighted in an interview in today's Hamilton Spectator , including one that shows that newborn brains are actually 'hard-wired' to recognize faces and at three days of age prefer the face of their mother to a stranger's face.

Tuesday's lecture will further explore Lewis' studies of babies born with dense cataracts and some of the surprising results she has documented. Once again, Lewis was there testing these babies 'first sight' — the first 10 minutes of their first visual experience when their cataracts were removed and they were fitted with contact lenses.

This lecture is free of charge and open to the public. The lecture takes place in the Hamilton Spectator Auditorium, 44 Frid Street in Hamilton. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the lecture begins at 7 p.m.

To register for a seat, call 905-525-9140, ext. 24934, or e-mail sciencecity@mcmaster.ca.