D. Catherwood, THE HAPTIC PROCESSING OF TEXTURE AND SHAPE BY 7-MONTH-OLD TO 9-MONTH-OLD INFANTS, British journal of developmental psychology, 11, 1993, pp. 299-306
This study was designed to assess whether infants can encode both the
texture and shape of the same haptic stimulus or alternatively are con
fined to encoding only one feature or the other. A sample of 24 infant
s (mean age 31.8 weeks) was familiarized to one stimulus and then pres
ented with this familiar stimulus and two other stimuli, one being nov
el either in texture or shape and the other novel in both these featur
es. Only haptic contact with the stimuli was permitted. The pattern of
responses to the three stimuli confirmed that the infants encoded bot
h texture and shape.