SIZE, NOVELTY, AND VISUAL POP-OUT IN INFANCY

The effects of set size and novelty on visual pop-out in 6-month-old i nfants was assessed in a perceptual-identification (memory reactivatio n) paradigm in which infants, trained and tested in their own homes, v iewed a mobile containing a unique novel or familiar object amidst dif ferent numbers of familiar or novel distracters, respectively. Unique objects of both types popped out at all set sizes except the largest, where there was modest evidence that familiar distracters speeded proc essing (Experiment 1). When the proportion of familiar targets in a di splay of intermediate set size was increased, however, infants no long er detected the familiar target (Experiment 2). These findings offer a dditional support for the proposition that visual pop-out in infants a nd adults is the same phenomenon.