The effectiveness of training procedures which used visual-visual arbitrary matching, blocked-trial matching-to-sample, and successive discrimination training to teach visual-visual discrimination of two-dimensional forms was evaluated with two men having severe mental retardation. Results indicated that the procedures did establish conditional…

Three experiments examined 4- and 6-month-olds' sensitivity to the unity of a partly occluded moving rod undergoing translation, rotation, or oscillation. Findings suggested that all types of common motion were not equivalent for specifying infants' perceptions of occluded objects. (Author)

The performance of eight adults with Asperger syndrome was compared with the performance of controls on a range of perceptual tasks designed to test two models of perceptual deficit: the central coherence deficit model and the hierarchization deficit model. Tentative support for the hierarchization deficit model was demonstrated. (Contains ten…

Three experiments examined cross-modal transfer of shape between touch and vision in 1-month-olds, controlling for side bias and stimulus preference. Results did not provide good evidence that 1-month-olds can transfer information about smooth or nubby shapes from touch to vision. Findings highlight the need to control for side bias and stimulus…

Tested in two studies 4- to 7-year-olds' face recognition by manipulating the faces' configural and featural information. Found that even with only a single 5-second exposure, most children could use configural and featural cues to make identity judgments. Repeated exposure and feedback improved others' performance. Even proficient memories were…

The authors present 10 experiments that challenge some central assumptions of the dominant theories of visual search. Their results reveal that the complexity (or redundancy) of nontarget items is a crucial but overlooked determinant of search efficiency. The authors offer a new theoretical outline that emphasizes the importance of nontarget…

Changes to a scene often go unnoticed if the objects of the change are unattended, making change detection an index of where attention is focused during scene perception. We measured change detection in school-age children and young adults by repeatedly alternating two versions of an image. To provide an age-fair assessment we used a bimanual…

Attempts to clarify the basis for the unusual responses to observed movement by 7-year-old children, as compared to adults, discovered by Olum. Subjects were 40 first and third graders. Results indicate that these responses are genuine and that they go through a developmental evolution. (SDH)

The processing of mental structures in perception appears to be serial, in that viewers can fill in missing parts from an impoverished stimulus following a top down process. To investigate the effects of unfamiliarity, complexity, and legibility on object and layout perception of unfamiliar stimuli, ten subjects were shown one of four ribbon…

This series of activities on spatial relationships was designed to help users acquire the skills of spatial visualization and orientation and to improve their effectiveness in applying those skills. The series contains an introduction to spatial orientation with several self-directed activities to help improve that skill. It also contains seven…

This study considered two questions about infants' perception of affective expressions: (1) Can infants distinguish between happiness and anger on the basis of facial motion information alone? (2) Can infants detect a correspondence between happy and angry facial and vocal expressions by different people? A total of 40 infants of 7 months of age…

This study investigated the process of perceptual exploration and organization of children as a function of age and sex in two experiments. In Experiment I, 3- to 5-year-old children named the pictures of nine familiar objects arranged in 3 x 3 matrices (exploration tasks) and indicated preference for objects represented in pairs (pair-completion…

Most vision screening today concerns itself only with the physical phase of vision, consequently the relationship of vision to learning becomes slighted. Rather, vision should be discussed as it operates when learning takes place through seeing. Vision as it operates for learning is a very complex process--it has physical (acuity), physiological…

The Perceptual Analysis Kindergarten Test is based on the rationale or thesis that learning is hierarchical. The test is used to help determine the level of the child in the hierarchy so that a remedial program can be devised to bring the child up to the level where he can develop the associative conceptualization required to be able to learn in…