Lecture 3.1: Liz Spelke - Cognition in Infancy (Part 1) | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Infants have a functioning cognitive system for perceiving objects, including systems for object recognition, segmentation, and tracking. They can perceive and understand object interactions through motion and other visual cues.

Key Insights

• ❓ Infants have cognitive systems for object perception, including segmentation, completion, and tracking of objects.
• 🖐️ Motion cues play a significant role in infants' perception of object connectedness and continuity over time.
• ❓ Infants can also perceive object interactions, such as objects contacting and moving together.

Transcript

The following content is provided under a Creative Commons license. Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare continue to offer high quality educational resources for free. To make a donation or view additional materials from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare at ocw.mit.edu. ELIZABETH SPELKE: I want to start with an observation abou... Read More

Questions & Answers

Q: How do infants perceive objects that are partially occluded?

Infants have the ability to perceive the connectedness and continuity of objects even when they are partially hidden, using motion cues and other visual information.

Q: Do infants understand that objects cannot occupy the same space?

Yes, infants have some understanding that objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. If two objects collide or come into close contact, they infer that the objects are distinct entities and cannot merge or interpenetrate.

Q: Can infants perceive object interactions through other cues besides motion?

Yes, infants can also perceive object interactions through other visual cues, such as changes in color or texture. They use these cues to infer object connectedness and behavior.

Q: At what age do infants develop object perception abilities?

Infants as young as four months old have been shown to possess cognitive systems for object perception. They can recognize objects, track their motion, and infer object properties through visual cues.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Infants have cognitive systems for representing objects and their properties.

• They can perceive objects through segmentation, completion of missing parts, and tracking of object motion.

• Infants use motion cues to infer object connectedness and continuity of motion over time.

• They can also perceive object interactions, such as objects contacting and moving together.