Infants’ perception of three-dimensional shape specified by motion-carried information

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to replicate Arterberry and Yonas (1988) with an added control group to provide further evidence that infants respond to distal shape specified by motion-carried information. In a habituation procedure, 4-month-old infants were tested for discrimination of a complete and incomplete cube specified in computer-generated, kinetic random-dot displays. Two groups of infants were tested. One group was provided with a full view of the habituation and test displays (called the full-view group). A second group of infants viewed only the central region in which differential motion was located (called the partial-view group). The full-view group provided evidence of discriminating the two objects, whereas the partial-view group did not. These findings suggest that 4-month-old infants do perceive three-dimensional shape specified by motion-carried information. © 1992, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.