Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Imprinting01:22

Imprinting

Behavioral imprinting is observed in some newborn animals and occurs when they develop strong and specific attachments to another animal (usually a parent) following brief, early-life exposures. Offspring imprint onto parents within a brief period after birth or hatching; this time window is called the critical period. Once imprinting occurs, the bond established between the parents and their offspring is usually long-lasting.
Magnetism01:30

Magnetism

Magnets are commonly found in everyday objects, such as toys, hangers, elevators, doorbells, and computer devices. Experimentation on these magnets shows that all magnets have two poles: one is labeled north (N) and the other south (S). Magnetic poles repel if they are alike and attract if unlike. Moreover, both poles of a magnet attract unmagnetized pieces of iron.
An individual magnetic pole cannot be isolated. No matter how small, every piece of a magnet contains a north pole and a south...
Gestalt Principles of Perception01:21

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...
Local Attraction01:22

Local Attraction

Local attraction refers to disturbances in compass readings caused by magnetic influences from nearby objects such as metal fences, buried pipes, vehicles, buildings, power lines, or natural iron ore deposits. Small items like wristwatches, steel tools, or belt buckles can also interfere with the compass by creating local magnetic fields that distort the Earth's natural magnetic field. These distortions lead to inaccurate readings, posing navigation and land surveying challenges.Local...
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...
The Nativist Approach01:21

The Nativist Approach

The nativist approach to infant cognitive development proposes that infants are born with inherent knowledge structures that allow them to interpret the world almost immediately. This perspective contrasts with earlier developmental theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, which emphasized a more gradual acquisition of cognitive abilities through interaction with the environment. One key concept in this approach is object permanence — the understanding that objects continue to exist...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Perceptual categorization of cat and dog silhouettes by 3- to 4-month-old infants.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2001
Same author

Object recognition and object segregation in infancy: historical perspective, theoretical significance, "kinds" of knowledge, and relation to object categorization.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2001
Same author

Identification of gender in domestic-cat faces with and without training: perceptual learning of a natural categorization task.

Perception·2000
Same author

Evidence for a global categorical representation of humans by young infants.

Journal of experimental child psychology·1998
Same author

The emergence of perceptual category representations in young infants: a connectionist analysis.

Journal of experimental child psychology·1997
Same author

Perceptual cues that permit categorical differentiation of animal species by infants.

Journal of experimental child psychology·1996

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 8, 2026

A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking
09:47

A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking

Published on: July 9, 2016

Perceptual reference points for form and orientation in young infants: anchors or magnets?

P C Quinn1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, PA 15301, USA. pquinn@washjeff.edu

Perception & Psychophysics
|January 5, 2001
PubMed
Summary

Young infants use simple shapes and main axes as perceptual anchors. These reference points help structure their understanding of form and orientation, aiding in discrimination tasks.

More Related Videos

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms
07:31

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 8, 2026

A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking
09:47

A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking

Published on: July 9, 2016

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms
07:31

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Perception

Background:

  • Certain stimuli act as reference points, influencing perception.
  • Debate exists on whether reference points increase or decrease discriminability, acting as anchors or magnets.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if perceptual reference points structure infants' representations of form and orientation.
  • To determine if these reference points function as anchors or magnets for infants.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the familiarization/novelty-preference procedure with 3- to 4-month-old infants.
  • Experiment 1: Assessed discrimination of form stimuli, including "good" forms (diamond, square, triangle).
  • Experiment 2: Assessed discrimination of orientation stimuli, focusing on horizontal and vertical orientations.

Main Results:

  • Infants showed above-chance discrimination for "good" forms and stimuli with horizontal/vertical orientations.
  • Discrimination performance was enhanced when one stimulus in a pair served as a reference point.

Conclusions:

  • "Simple" gestalts and main axes function as perceptual anchors for young infants.
  • These anchors aid in the organization of form and orientation information in infant perception.