New‐born infants' perception of similarities and differences between two‐ and three‐dimensional stimuli

Abstract

The new‐born baby' ability to detect similarities and differences between three‐dimensional stimuli and their two‐dimensional representations is investigated in three experiments, using both visual preference and habituation procedures. In Expt 1 new‐borns strongly preferred (looked more at) complex objects to their photographs. This preference was found with monocular viewing, and suggests that motion parallax is a salient cue in the detection of the differences between the two‐ and three‐dimensional stimuli. The results from Expt 2 support the view that, for the new‐born, the differences between objects and their two‐dimensional representations are more detectable or salient than their similarities. These conclusions were further supported by the results from the last experiment, using simpler stimuli, although the preference was for the two‐ rather than the three‐dimensional stimuli. The results suggest that studies which use only two‐dimensional stimuli may provide only limited information about the course of perceptual development, at least in the first few months from birth.