Infants' distance perception from linear perspective and texture gradients

Abstract

This study investigated 5- and 7-month-old infants' abilities to perceive objects' distances from pictorial depth cues, the depth cues available to a stationary, monocular viewer. Infants viewed a display in which texture gradients and linear perspective, two pictorial depth cues, created an illusion of two objects resting at different distances on a textured surface. Under monocular viewing conditions, 7-month-olds reached preferentially for the apparently nearer object, indicating that they perceived the objects' relative distances specified by pictorial depth cues. Under binocular viewing conditions, these infants showed no reaching preference. This finding rules out interpretations of the results not based on the objects' perceived distances. The 5-month-olds' reaching preferences were not significantly different in the experimental (monocular) and control (binocular) conditions. These infants, therefore, did not show clear evidence of distance perception from pictorial depth cues.