ABSTRACT

This chapter will review what is known about the development of perceptual organization and categori­ zation of objects in pre verbal infants less than I year of age, with emphasis placed on research conducted in the authors laboratory A number of difficult and related questions wTill guide the discussion. First, how does the infant begin to decompose a complex configuration of visu al pattern information into elements that can be used as building blocks (i.e., units of processing) for purposes of representing objects? Second, how are the surface fragments (i.e., edge segments) of a visual scene spontaneously grouped into more complex structures (i.e., shapes) that serve as the basis for the representation of objects? Third, what visual properties of objects mediate a common categorization response? Fou rth, what factors control infant visual attention during presentation of complex stimulus patterns that contain multiple visual features? Fifth, what is the contribution of previou sly acquired knowledge to on-line, within-task performance?