The impact of rhythm on visual attention disengagement in newborns and 2-month-old infants

Rhythm entrains attention in both human and non-human animals. Here, the ontogenetic origins of this effect were investigated in newborns (Experiment 1; N = 30, 16 females) and 2-month-old infants (Experiment 2; N = 30, 17 females). Visuospatial attentional disengagement was tested in an overlap task where a static peripheral stimulus (S2) appeared while a central rhythmic, non-rhythmic or static stimulus (S1) remained visible on the screen. Results indicated a developmental pattern, with 2-month-olds, but not newborns, showing equally faster disengagement of fixation when S1 was static or rhythmic compared to non-rhythmic. Infants' preferential looking behaviour indicate that this difference in saccadic latencies was not due to stimulus salience (Experiment 3; N = 30, 18 females). Results point to the importance of the temporal structure of dynamic stimuli as a specific feature that modulates attentional disengagement at 2 months of age. • Two-month-olds, not newborns, were equally faster in disengaging fixation from static and rhythmic stimuli compared to non-rhythmic stimuli. • Infants’ preferential looking behaviour suggests that this effect is not due to stimulus salience. • The ability to harness rhythmic patterns to optimise visuospatial attention emerges very early in human ontogeny.