This study explored newborns' ability to perceive perceptual similarities between different exemplars of 2 broad classes of simple shapes: closed and open geometric forms. Three experiments were carried out using a visual paired-comparison task. Evidence showed that, after familiarization either to closed-shaped or to openshaped forms, newborns manifested a novelty preference for a novel-category rather than for a familiar-category exemplar (Experiment 1). This result could not be explained either as a consequence of the newborns' inability to discriminate between instances of the same category of simple geometric forms (Experiment 2), or as a consequence of a spontaneous preference for the novel-category exemplars (Experiment 3). Overall, findings revealed that newborns are able to form broad categories of distinguishable geometric shapes by relying on the shapes' perceptual similarity.
Newborns' perceptual categorization for closed and open geometric forms
SIMION, FRANCESCA;
2003
Abstract
This study explored newborns' ability to perceive perceptual similarities between different exemplars of 2 broad classes of simple shapes: closed and open geometric forms. Three experiments were carried out using a visual paired-comparison task. Evidence showed that, after familiarization either to closed-shaped or to openshaped forms, newborns manifested a novelty preference for a novel-category rather than for a familiar-category exemplar (Experiment 1). This result could not be explained either as a consequence of the newborns' inability to discriminate between instances of the same category of simple geometric forms (Experiment 2), or as a consequence of a spontaneous preference for the novel-category exemplars (Experiment 3). Overall, findings revealed that newborns are able to form broad categories of distinguishable geometric shapes by relying on the shapes' perceptual similarity.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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