Abstract
Two experiments are described in which the new‐born baby's ability to discriminate between simple shapes or forms was investigated. An infant controlled habituation procedure was used in both experiments and, following habituation of response to one (the familiar) stimulus, the index of discrimination was differential attention to the stimuli when given paired presentation of novel and familiar. In Expt 1 it was found that new‐boms will readily discriminate between a triangle, a square, a cross and a circle. Experiment 2 indicated that these discriminations are made on the basis of differences in shape rather than on differences in contour density. It was found that the infants actively selected between the stimuli on the paired presentation trials. The findings are discussed in relation to views of infant attention and stimulus selection, and demonstrate that some degree of shape perception is present from birth.
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