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Updated: Jul 5, 2025

Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
Published on: November 2, 2012
The Development of Object Recognition Requires Experience with the Surface Features of Objects
Justin Newell Wood1, Samantha Marie Waters Wood2
1Departments of Informatics, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Center for Integrated Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47408, USA.
Abstract:
What role does visual experience play in the development of object recognition? Prior controlled-rearing studies suggest that newborn animals require slow and smooth visual experiences to develop object recognition. Here, we examined whether the development of object recognition also requires experience with the surface features of objects. We raised newborn chicks in automated controlled-rearing chambers that contained a single virtual object, then tested their ability to recognize that object from familiar and novel viewpoints. When chicks were reared with an object that had surface features, the chicks developed view-invariant object recognition. In contrast, when chicks were reared with a line drawing of an object, the chicks failed to develop object recognition. The chicks reared with line drawings performed at chance level, despite acquiring over 100 h of visual experience with the object. These results indicate that the development of object recognition requires experience with the surface features of objects.
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