Preferential looking is an experimental method in developmental psychology used to gain insight into the young mind/brain.
[1] According to the American Psychological Association, the preferential looking technique is "an experimental method for assessing the perceptual capabilities of nonverbal individuals (e.g., human infants, nonhuman animals)".
Robert L. Fantz (1925-1981) was a developmental psychologist who launched several studies on infant perception including the preferential looking paradigm.
[citation needed] A 2018 study collected data using a preferential looking paradigm.
Using the preferential looking paradigm, Fantz and Simon B. Miranda conducted a study in 1974 that assessed recognition memory in infants with Down’s syndrome compared to typically developed infants (Miranda & Fantz, 1974).