DEVELOPMENTAL-CHANGES IN THE CONTEXTUAL CONTROL OF RECOGNITION

In three experiments, we explored potential developmental differences in the contextual control of target recognition using elementary perce ptual features that differed only in their spatial relations. Three- a nd 6-month-old infants were trained in the presence of black horizonta l and vertical line segments arranged as Ls, Ts, or +s on a pink backg round and were tested in the presence of the same line segments in a d ifferent spatial arrangement. At both ages, target recognition require d a match between the primitive perceptual features in the test contex t and those present during training. Delayed recognition by younger bu t not older infants also required a match between specific spatial arr angements of the horizontal and vertical segments (+s versus Ls or Ts) , despite the fact that infants of both ages had initially encoded the se relations. These data suggest that by 6 months, spatial information in the periphery is detected prealtentively via a parallel-processing mechanism, as it is in children and adults. (C) 1995 John Wiley and S ons, Inc.