ABSTRACT
The processes of perceptual organization involve the observer imposing order on stimuli that have many possible interpretations, only one of which is veridical. This order is presumably based to some extent on the stimulus itself but also on the observer’s knowledge about the world. As many perceptual theorists have acknowledged, visual perception is a process of interpreting the available visual information, with both correct and incorrect interpretations possible. One question that has intrigued scientists and philosophers for hundreds of years is whether (and if so, to what extent) human infants share adults’ ability to organize the visual world. Do infants impose order on visual stimuli in much the same way as adults do? Or do they experience visual arrays as confused collections of shapes, colors, and patterns? These questions, especially as they concern infants’ perception of objects, are what motivate this research.
