ABSTRACT

Moreover, as we have noted, the ability to discriminate between two forms or patterns presented simultaneously, although it may provide a basis for identification, does not necessarily produce it. Some memorization is required in order that the child may identifY a shape as such. An early experiment by Ling (1941) showed that at six months an infant could learn to discriminate shapes such as a circle, oval, square, triangle and cross, presented in pairs. One shape was movable, and covered with a sweet substance, and could be picked up and sucked. At first learning which shape to select was very slow indeed, and there were considerable individual differences between different infants. The rate of learning increased rapidly from seven to twelve months. But the task was more difficult when several shapes were presented together; and if the correct shape was similar to one of the others, for instance a circle and an oval. It would seem that during this period the infants were gradually learning to identify particular simple forms. Babska (1965) investigated the further development of identification. She required children to memo-

rize the shape of a real object or a shape such as a circle, square, etc., and recognize it afterwards when it was shown with three other shapes. At two to three years, the response was one of chance; but it improved subsequently, and nearly all choices were correct by five years. Thus it could be concluded that simple identification of shape was by then well established. However, the problems of memorizing form discrimination go beyond the scope of this book; they are fully discussed by Fellows (1968a).