At 4% months, infants were shown a series of brief choice trials between a stimulus that always remained the same and another that was different on every trial. The point when a consistent preference for the novel stimulus commenced was identified for each infant, and their preferences for the familiar and novel stimuli in trials preceding that point were examined. Infants who saw objects or faces as stimuli both exhibited selective attention to the familiar stimulus prior to preferring novel stimuli, although infants shown kaleidoscope patterns did not. These results document a preference for familiarity early in processing with a procedure that is not subject to ambiguities due to individual differences in processing speed or to collapsing data across infants. The results support a nonlinear model for memory formation during infancy and under-Requests for reprints should be sent to Beverly J. Roder, Infants to Adolescents,
The ability of infants to perceive three-dimensional structure from transformations of linear perspective was investigated in two studies. Infants were habituated to the pattern oflinear perspective transformations corresponding to a particular three-dimensional object, and their relative preference for that object as compared with a different three-dimensional object was assessed both before and after habituation. The habituation displays showed the distorting shadow cast by a rotating object and therefore provided only transformations of linear perspective as information specifying three-dimensional form. The pre-and posttest displays involved the actual threedimensional objects and provided binocular, shading, and texture information specifying threedimensional form, but did not provide informative transformations oflinear perspective. In Study 1, 6-month-olds showed changes in preference from pre-to posttest that were related to the identity of the object whose shadow they had seen during habituation; 4-month-olds, however, did not show preference changes related to the habituation object. In Study 2, rhythm information that may have served as a basis for responding in Study 1 was eliminated from the test displays. Sixmonth-olds again showed changes in preference that were dependent on their habituation experience. It is concluded that, by 6 months of age, infants are able to perceive object structure from the isolated cue of transformations of linear perspective. The findings are discussed with reference to infants' three-dimensional form perception based on other cues and also with reference to the emergence of certain spatially related moter activities.The ability to perceive the three-dimensional structure of objects and their spatial layout in the environment is essential for effective motor behavior; consequently, depth perception has been a matter of considerable interest for psychologists. The central problem with respect to this matter is that the perception of three-dimensional objects in a three-dimensional space must be derived from retinal images that are represented two-dimensionally. Psychologists have identified a variety of "cues" to depth that apparently mediate this conversion process and, to determine the origins and development of depth perception, the responses of young infants to a number of these cues have been investigated. The evidence, recently reviewed by Banks and Salapatek (1983), indicates that infants are, indeed, sensitive to many of the identified cues to depth by as early as 2-3 months of age. Furthermore, observations of infants' reaching behavior indicate that actual distance relationships (nearness/farness) specified by proximal cues are appreciated by 5 months of age in the case of disparity cues (Gordon & Yonas, 1976) and
Two experiments were conducted to test the encoding-specificity hypothesis. In Experiment 1, subjects were presented pairs of coordinates to study, followed by a cued-recall test. Semantically weak and strong coordinates (defined by the degree of featural overlap shared with the pairs) served as encoding and retrieval cues. The semantic strength of the retrieval cue proved to be the most important factor in recall, whereas the re-presentation of an unrelated cue previously seen during encoding led to no facilitation of recall. In Experiment 2, three noun coordinates of varied semantic interrelatedness were presented for study and then were cued for recall by novel semantically strong or weak coordinates. Maximum recall was achieved when a strong encoding condition was matched with a strong retrieval cue. Implications of these findings for an encoding-specificityhypothesis were discussed.
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