Chapter 1 - The Origins of Object Perception

Abstract

The growth and learning, especially during the first year of life, profoundly change perception. The purpose of this chapter is to examine these changes while focusing on the question: How does object perception develop? The chapter emphasizes on the perceptual abilities at or near the beginning of human life, and what is known about their transformation as a person grows and learns. Both early capacities and patterns of change have implications for social and early cognitive development. Ecologically, it is obvious that perceiving objects allows human beings as well as animals to obtain nutrition, recognize con-specifics, avoid obstacles and predators and make telephone calls using a cell phone. Much of perception is object perception. Object perception abilities include edge detection, edge classification, and boundary assignment, unit formation, three-dimensional form perception, size perception and perception of substance. It is striking that early in development; human infants do virtually none of these things. By 5 months, an infant may reach for an object; by 7 months, she may crawl, and by 12 months, the infant learns to walk. These milestones, however, do not equip an infant to feed or protect itself. However, the same infant, from its earliest days, possesses sophisticated object perception abilities. These have blossomed by 3-4 months and are adult-like by one year.