Used event-related potentials to examine infants' ability to form representations of stimuli presented in a haptic modality and to then recognize these stimuli as familiar when the stimuli were subsequently presented in a visual modality. Found that in certain conditions infants encoded the haptically familiarized object, then transferred their…

Two experiments investigated whether 5-month olds would look longer at rotating "drawbridge" appearing to violate physical laws because they knew it was causally impossible. Findings indicated that infants' longer gaze at 180-degree rotations was due to simple perceptual preference for more motion, challenging Baillargeon's (1987) claim…

Three experiments examined infants' processing of three-dimensional (3D) information in static images. Results indicated that 3-month olds are sensitive to 3D cues in static images. However, discrepancies based on these cues may not engage infants' attention like those based on fundamental features. (Author)

Four experiments examined 8-month-olds' ability to reason about collections of objects. Findings suggested that infants' expectations about object behavior do not automatically apply to any and all portions of matter within the visual field. The behavior of an entity and infants' prior experience played roles in determining whether infants will…

Recorded reaching and looking preferences and movement kinematics among 5- to 15-month-olds divided into 3 age groups. Found that 5- to 12-month-olds preferred looking first at a large object; 8.5- to 12-month-olds showed preference for reaching to smaller (graspable) objects. Kinematic measures suggested that onset of object-oriented action…

The current study distinguishes between attributions of goal-directed perception (i.e. attention) and non-goal-directed perception to examine 9-month-olds' interpretation of others' head and eye turns. In a looking time task, 9-month-olds encoded the relationship between an actor's head and eye turns and a target object if the head and eye turns…

Reports two experiments which were designed to establish whether errors in infants' manual searches for objects are caused by changes in the location of an object or by the change in the relation between old and new hiding places. (JMB)

Human neonates selectively fixated patterns with curved rather than straight contours when the outermost contours differed in this form variable and when quantitative variables were controlled. Data indicated the presence from birth of a discrimination ability basic to later form perception. (Author/ED)

This experiment asked whether infants at 5 months perceived an invariant over four types of rigid motion (perspective transformations), and thereby differentiated rigid motion from deformation. Four perspective transformations of a sponge rubber object (rotation around the vertical axis, rotation around the horizontal axis, rotation in the frontal…

Reports research into the visual fixation of 3- to 11-week old infants as they observed adult faces. Reports a dramatic increase in fixations occurred between 5 and 7 weeks for all conditions. (SL)

Forty-eight neonates were randomly assigned to view a moving stimulus either in the horizontal or the upright position, with or without added vestibular stimulation and with or without pacifier sucking. Results indicate that vestibular proprioceptive stimulation, provided horizontally or semi-vertically, significantly enhanced visual tracking.…

Reports the results of studies of perception of very young infants. Sixty infants 6 to 23 days old were presented objects; looking-at and reaching-for the objects were measured. Results indicated active visual exploration of objects did occur; however, little motor activity was directed toward the objects. (SL)

Four studies assessed a cognitive explanation for development of infants' preference for attractive faces: cognitive averaging and preferences for mathematically averaged faces, or prototypes. Findings indicated that adults and 6-month olds prefer prototypical, mathematically averaged faces and that 6-month olds can abstract the central tendency…

Three experiments investigated whether 4-month-olds would attend to and utilize the global configuration ("good form") of a partly occluded, moving object to perceive its unit and coherence behind the occluder. Results indicated that curvature per se provided information in support of completion, in addition to global configuration and…

Investigated 4- and 7-month-olds' perception of transparency, using computer-generated achromatic or color displays depicting a semitransparent box occluding the center of a rod. Found that 4-month-olds indicated perception of transparency in color but not in achromatic displays. Seven-month-olds showed some evidence of transparency perception in…