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Updated: Jul 1, 2026
14:38
Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
Published on: November 2, 2012
Development of perceptual completion originates in information acquisition
Scott P Johnson1, Juliet Davidow, Cynthia Hall-Haro
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. sjohnson@psych.ucla.edu
Developmental Psychology
|September 17, 2008
Summary
Newborn infants’ ability to perceive complete objects develops through targeted visual scanning. This early oculomotor behavior, not motion sensitivity, is key for perceptual completion, enabling infants to see objects as whole despite partial occlusion.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Adults perceive complete objects despite occlusion, but newborns do not.
- Mechanisms behind the development of perceptual completion remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the roles of oculomotor behavior and motion sensitivity in infant perceptual completion.
- To explain the developmental trajectory of seeing objects as whole.
Main Methods:
- Infants viewed a moving, center-occluded rod to assess perceptual completion.
- Oculomotor scanning patterns and motion direction discrimination were measured.
- Individual differences in performance were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Perceptual completion performance strongly correlated with infant scanning patterns.
- No significant relationship was found between completion and motion discrimination.
- Targeted visual scanning emerged as a critical factor.
Conclusions:
- Early developing oculomotor systems, specifically targeted visual scanning, are crucial for perceptual completion.
- A new developmental model emphasizes visual scanning's role in object perception development.
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