Infant's recognition of three‐dimensional form: Mirror image and structurally distinct objects

Abstract

AbstractThis study assessed the extent to which visuospatial processing, as measured by visual scanning behaviour, was associated with infants' ability to recognize mirror image and structurally distinct three‐dimensional objects. Simplified Shepard and Metzler (1971) images were employed. Using a remote eye‐tracker, infants ages 10 to 17 months (n = 130) were familiarized to a target object that rotated 180° around its vertical axis. During test trials, infants saw either the target object or one of two types of novel objects (mirror image or a structurally distinct) rotating through the previously unseen 180°. Infants looked significantly longer at the rotated target than novel object in both the mirror image and structurally distinct condition. However, recognition did not emerge until the third test pair, suggesting that infants found this task difficult task. Analyses revealed a relationship between visual scanning of the novel object during test trials and recognition performance; infants who engaged in focused scanning of the novel object (i.e., attended primarily to the top or bottom of the object) during test trials were more likely to show recognition performance. The results of this experiment identified visual processes that support infants' ability to recognize 3D objects from a previously unseen perspective.