It is surprising that there are inconsistent findings of transitive inference (TI) in young infants given that non-linguistic species succeed on TI tests. To conclusively test for TI in infants, we developed a task within the social domain, with which infants are known to show sophistication. We familiarized 10- to 13-month-olds (M = 11.53 months)…

Saccade latency is widely used across infant psychology to investigate infants' understanding of events. Interpreting particular latency values requires knowledge of standard saccadic RTs, but there is no consensus as to typical values. This study provides standard estimates of infants' (n = 194, ages 9 to 15 months) saccadic RTs under a range of…

Research suggests that nonlinguistic sequence learning abilities are an important contributor to language development (Conway, Bauernschmidt, Huang, & Pisoni, 2010). The current study investigated visual sequence learning (VSL) as a possible predictor of vocabulary development in infants. Fifty-eight 8.5-month-old infants were presented with a…

Five experiments examined 79 newborns' ability to discriminate and categorize a spatial relation, defined by the left-right spatial position of a blinking object-target with respect to a vertical landmark-bar. Three-day-old infants discriminated the up versus low position of an object located on the same side of the landmark-bar (Experiment 1) and…

Results show that at eight months of age ability to identify the site of an event after reorientation is based on the spatial relationship between the event and environmental features. The latter include features associated with room shape as well as a landmark at the site of the event. (Author/RH)

This study examined 6-month-old infants' abilities to use the visual information provided by simulated self-movement through the world, and movement of an object through the world, for spatial orientation. Infants were habituated to a visual display in which they saw a toy hidden, followed by either rotation of the point of observation through the…

In three experiments, the effect of additional "contextual" elements on the discrimination of the orientation of linear and curvilinear segments was investigated with four-month-old infants. Results suggest that, regarding certain stimuli and techniques of measurement, surrounding contextual segments can aid the discrimination of linear…

Finds that seven-month-old infants are sensitive to pictorial interposition whereas five-month-old infants are not. Suggests that sensitivity to pictorial depth information first appears between five and seven months of age. (Author)

An Ames static trapezoidal window was used to test infants' responsiveness to pictorial depth. Sensitivity to the pictorial information for depth that is present in the trapezoidal window appears to develop after the age of 22 weeks. (Author/DB)

Three experiments investigated use of visual input and body movement input arising from movement through the world on spatial orientation. Experiments involved infants searching for a toy hidden in one of two containers. Findings indicated that search was best after infant movement in a lit environment prior to searching; all other conditions led…