title: Perception of kinetic illusory contours by two-month-old infants.
abstract: Perception of kinetic illusory contours by 2-month-old infants was explored with sparse random-dot displays depicting an illusory shape against a background. In Experiment 1, 24 infants were habituated to a shape specified by accretion and deletion of background texture and relative motion, and exhibited a novelty preference when presented with luminance-defined familiar and novel shapes. Subsequent experiments explored kinetic cues in isolation. In Experiment 2 (n = 24), relative motion information was removed, leaving accretion and deletion of texture and luminance cues, and in Experiment 3 (n = 24), only relative motion information was available. In both these experiments the novelty preference obtained in Experiment 1 was replicated. Results from a control condition (n = 12) mitigated against the likelihood of an inherent preference for either of the test shapes. These findings reveal an early capacity to perceive shape solely from kinetic information, and suggest a mechanism geared toward spatiotemporal boundary formation that is functional shortly after birth. Theories of development of edge and motion discrimination are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. sj75@cornell.edu
authors.forename: Scott P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Uschi
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mason
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception; D009903:Optical Illusions; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011601:Psychophysics