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The influence of training views on infants' long‐term memory for simple 3D shapes
Author(s) -
Kraebel Kimberly S.,
West Rebecca N.,
Gerhardstein Peter
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.20222
Subject(s) - representation (politics) , perception , object (grammar) , simple (philosophy) , psychology , cognitive psychology , term (time) , computer science , long term memory , artificial intelligence , cognition , neuroscience , physics , philosophy , epistemology , quantum mechanics , politics , political science , law
Abstract This investigation explored infants' ability to retrieve a memory for a simple 3D shape from a novel view following a 24‐hr delay. Tests of memory for shape in infancy have typically used extremely short delay intervals between familiarization and test in examining the ability to equate between substantially different views of a 3D object. The current study used longer delays to assess the content of a long‐term memory representation. Infants 3–4 months of age learned to kick to move a mobile displaying a simple 3D shape (brick or cylinder). Results of three experiments show that infants can recognize 3D shapes in a novel viewpoint across a 24‐hr delay, provided that experience with a sufficiently wide range of views is available during training. The results suggest a capacity for the perception of 3D shape that enables access, across long delays, to a memory representation of sufficient detail that discrimination between two simple shapes (i.e., a cylinder and a brick) is possible. The results suggest that this representation is of a sufficiently abstract nature that perception of the 3D form of the object, independent of the changes in specific features accompanying changes in viewpoint, is also possible. This finding suggests that infants, like adults, possess a functional memory system for the distal shape of simple 3D objects, and can transfer training to a novel view using long‐term memory, but that this ability is not as strong as in the mature system. These results have implications for the development of shape perception and for theories of object recognition in general. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 406–420, 2007.