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WETHERFORD, MARGARET J., and COHEN, LESLIE B. Developmental Changes in Infant Visual Preferences for Novelty and Familiarity. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1973, 44, 416-424. 2 experiments examined infant preferences for novel and familiar visual stimuli. In both, infants were repeatedly shown 1 pattern with novel patterns interspersed at 3 intervals in the familiarization series. In Experiment I infants 6-12 weeks of age were examined both longitudinally and cross-sectionally. Experiment II was a partial replication of Experiment I with 6-8-weekolds. Habituation to the familiar pattern occurred at 10-12 weeks but not at 6-8 weeks. Older Ss also preferred novel patterns, while younger Ss preferred familiar ones. Results from the cross-sectional design were clearer than from the longitudinal design. The findings support Hunt's (1963) 2-stage model of infant preferences.
Wetherford et al. (Sat,) studied this question.