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The effects of stimulus symmetry on hierarchical processing in infancy
Author(s) -
Guy Maggie W.,
Reynolds Greg D.,
Mosteller Sara M.,
Dixon Kate C.
Publication year - 2017
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.21486
Subject(s) - stimulus (psychology) , psychology , visual processing , event related potential , cognition , cognitive psychology , asymmetry , information processing , neuroscience , perception , physics , quantum mechanics
The current study investigated the effects of stimulus symmetry on the processing of global and local stimulus properties by 6‐month‐old short‐ and long‐looking infants through the use of event‐related potentials (ERPs). Previous research has shown that individual differences in infant visual attention are related to hierarchical stimulus processing, such that short lookers show a global processing bias, while long lookers demonstrate a local processing bias (Guy, Reynolds, & Zhang, 2013). Additional research has shown that in comparison with asymmetry, symmetry is associated with more efficient stimulus processing and more accurate memory for stimulus configuration (Attneave, 1955; Perkins, 1932). In the current study, we utilized symmetric and asymmetric hierarchical stimuli and predicted that the presence of asymmetry would direct infant attention to the local features of stimuli, leading short lookers to regress to a local processing strategy. Results of the ERP analysis showed that infants familiarized with a symmetric stimulus showed evidence of global processing, while infants familiarized with an asymmetric stimulus did not demonstrate evidence of processing at the global or local level. These findings indicate that short‐ and long‐looking infants, who might otherwise fail to process global stimulus properties due to limited visual scanning, may succeed at global processing when exposed to symmetric stimuli. Furthermore, stimulus symmetry may recruit selective attention toward global properties of visual stimuli, facilitating higher‐level cognitive processing in infancy.