Newborns' central vision: Whole or hole?

We studied visual detection in 150 infants, 1- to 7-days old, by presenting single lines varying in width and location. We found that newborns detected a line only 8′ wide in the central visual field. Peripherally, they appeared to detect lines of 33′, 33′, and 1°6′ at 10°, 20°, and 30°, respectively. Thus, both the central retina and the peripheral retina appear to function at birth.