Infant Perception and Cognition

Abstract

This chapter summarizes research in the last decade on the development of perception and cognition in preverbal infants. The chapter begins by placing the current state of the field in its historical context, and covers the basic and predominant methodological techniques and paradigms used in the field. The major part of the chapter is spent summarizing progress in eight specific subtopics within the area: attention, learning, intersensory/intermodal processing, face processing, object perception, casual perception, quantitative processing, and categorization. In addition, two integrative sections explore how the study of the development of fundamental perceptual and cognitive functions relate to larger issues in developmental psychology. The first of these sections examines the developmental relationships between lower-order perceptual components and higher-order functions, such as language and executive function. A final section examines the incorporation of research on early perceptual and cognitive development in translational and applied research. These include the prediction of later cognition from early cognitive performance, the use of infant perceptual-cognitive measures as dependent or outcome measures in intervention research, and the use of early perceptual-cognitive indicators as markers of developmental delay and disability.