Habituation patterns and object perception in young infants

Abstract

The present study analysed data from 109 2-month-olds and 63 4-month-olds drawn from past studies of young infants' perception of object unity. These past studies investigated perception of object unity by analysing looking times to post-habituation displays. The present study explored relations between habituation patterns and object perception. There is evidence in the literature that habituation patterns in young infants may be related to concurrent perceptual skills, and later cognitive development. The present study revealed that 2-month-olds who seemed to perceive objects in depth during the habituation period took more time to habituate than did infants who did not seem to perceive objects in depth. However, no differences in habituation patterns among 4-month-olds were found. It might be that when infants first develop object perception skills, they require more time to process appropriately relevant stimulus information. By 4 months of age, object perception skills are more advanced and this extra time may not be needed.