Abstract
BackgroundPrevious research has shown that object recognition may develop well into late childhood and adolescence. The present study extends that research and reveals novel differences in holistic and analytic recognition performance in 7–12 year olds compared to that seen in adults. We interpret our data within a hybrid model of object recognition that proposes two parallel routes for recognition (analytic vs. holistic) modulated by attention.Methodology/Principal FindingsUsing a repetition-priming paradigm, we found in Experiment 1 that children showed no holistic priming, but only analytic priming. Given that holistic priming might be thought to be more ‘primitive’, we confirmed in Experiment 2 that our surprising finding was not because children’s analytic recognition was merely a result of name repetition.Conclusions/SignificanceOur results suggest a developmental primacy of analytic object recognition. By contrast, holistic object recognition skills appear to emerge with a much more protracted trajectory extending into late adolescence.
Highlights
The present paper is concerned with the development of the long-term representation of visual shapes used for the recognition and naming of common objects
All object recognition can be explained from such holistic representations [13] though they are alternatively contrasted with the classical idea of an analytical, structural object description based on certain volumetric primitives and their categorical relations [14,15]
One point to note is that the use of the term holistic in studies of object recognition differs from the one prevailing in research into face recognition
Summary
The present paper is concerned with the development of the long-term representation of visual shapes used for the recognition and naming of common objects. Holistic priming effects appear to depend on long-term memory representations of visual shape and to differ from the facilitation observed in sequential visual matching The latter would be expected to provide an advantage in case of unfamiliar stimuli, i.e., in the absence of any longterm object representation (e.g., [38,39,40]). Holistic processing should manifest itself as an additional advantage of identical over left-right reflected images and should be equal for attended and ignored primes We used these behavioural markers to contrast the involvement of analytical and holistic processing in children and adults, and to establish the relative dominance of the two routes during the development of object recognition
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
