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Related Experiment Videos

Infants' perception of object trajectories.

Scott P Johnson1, J Gavin Bremner, Alan Slater

  • 1Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. sj75@cornell.edu

Child Development
|March 11, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Human infants develop occlusion perception gradually. By six months, babies show robust object trajectory completion, but younger infants struggle with longer occlusions, indicating this skill emerges after birth.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Cognitive neuroscience
  • Infant perception

Background:

  • Occlusion perception, the ability to infer the presence of an object behind another, is crucial for understanding the world.
  • The developmental trajectory of occlusion perception in human infants remains largely unexplored.
  • Understanding when and how infants develop the ability to perceive continuous object trajectories is fundamental to visual perception development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the developmental origins of occlusion perception in human infants.
  • To examine infants' ability to perceive the continuity of an object's trajectory during brief occlusions.
  • To determine the age at which infants reliably perceive trajectory completion.

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments were conducted with infants aged 2 to 6 months.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Infants' responses to occluded object trajectories were analyzed.
  • The duration of the occlusion interval was systematically varied.

    • Main Results:

    • Youngest infants (2-4 months) showed limited evidence of veridical trajectory completion.
    • Four-month-olds perceived continuity with short occlusions but not with longer ones.
    • By 6 months of age, infants demonstrated more robust perceptual completion of occluded trajectories.

    Conclusions:

    • Veridical object perception, including trajectory completion, is not fully functional at birth.
    • The ability to perceive continuous object trajectories emerges and strengthens during the first six months of life.
    • Early visual experience plays a critical role in the development of occlusion perception.