Infants' integration of information from different sources in object segregation

Abstract

The present research investigated 9.5-month-old infants' use of spatial and featural information when determining the locations of object boundaries. Infants were shown displays for which spatial information (the relative positions of the boxes) and featural information (the colours and patterns of the boxes) led to either the same or different interpretations of the display. Infants' interpretations of the displays were assessed by measuring their looking time at an event in which a screen passed either between or behind the objects. The results indicated that when the spatial information provided a clear interpretation of the display, infants used this interpretation even when featural information conflicted. In contrast, featural information was only used to interpret the display when spatial information did not allow a clear interpretation (1997a). These results are similar to those of Needham and Baillargeon in their indication that infants use multiple sources of information to segregate displays and that their strategies for determining which information to use are sensitive to characteristics of each source of information such as its likelihood of providing a veridical interpretation of a display. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.