Novelty Preference (novelty + preference)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Something old, something new: a developmental transition from familiarity to novelty preferences with hidden objects

DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2010
Jeanne L. Shinskey
Novelty seeking is viewed as adaptive, and novelty preferences in infancy predict cognitive performance into adulthood. Yet 7-month-olds prefer familiar stimuli to novel ones when searching for hidden objects, in contrast to their strong novelty preferences with visible objects (Shinskey & Munakata, 2005). According to a graded representations perspective on object knowledge, infants gradually develop stronger object representations through experience, such that representations of familiar objects can be better maintained, supporting greater search than with novel objects. Object representations should strengthen with further development to allow older infants to shift from familiarity to novelty preferences with hidden objects. The current study tested this prediction by presenting 24 11-month-olds with novel and familiar objects that were sometimes visible and sometimes hidden. Unlike 7-month-olds, 11-month-olds showed novelty preferences with both visible and hidden objects. This developmental shift from familiarity to novelty preference with hidden objects parallels one that infants show months earlier with perceptible stimuli, but the two transitions may reflect different underlying mechanisms. The current findings suggest both change and continuity in the adaptive development of object representations and associated cognitive processes. [source]


Infants' Looking at Possible and Impossible Screen Rotations: The Role of Familiarization

INFANCY, Issue 4 2000
Thomas H. Schilling
The effects of familiarization and age were examined using Baillargeon's rotating screen paradigm. In Condition A, 4-month-olds exposed to 7 180° familiarization trials looked significantly longer at the 180° test events than the 112° test events; there was a familiarity preference. In Condition B, which consisted of 12 instead of 7 180° familiarization trials, the 4-month-olds looked significantly longer at the 112° test events than the 180° test events; there was a novelty preference. In Condition C, which was similar to Condition A except that there were 112° familiarization trials, the infants showed a familiarity preference. Thus, 4-month-olds experiencing 7 familiarization trials exhibited a familiarity preference, and those experiencing 12 familiarization trials showed a novelty preference. In Condition D, 6-month-olds experienced 7 180° familiarization trials; there was no preferential looking to either familiar (180°) test events or novel (112°) test events. Therefore, looking behavior during the test trials was a function of the type of familiarization experience and age and not necessarily an inferred violation of physics. [source]


Development of chromatic induction in infancy

INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2007
Hiromi Okamura
Abstract The perception of colour in an embedded field is affected by the surround colour. This phenomenon is known as chromatic induction. In the present study we investigated whether the colour perception by infants aged 5,7 months could be affected by the surround colour. In Experiments 1 and 2 each stimulus was composed of an array of six squares in tandem. The colour appearance of the array in the familiarization stimulus was established by chromatic induction. In Experiment 1 we used familiarization stimuli that were perceived as two-colour array with a two-colour surround. In Experiment 2 we used a familiarization stimulus that was perceived as a uniform-colour array with a two-colour surround. In the test phase, the uniform-colour array and the two-colour array were presented on a white uniform-colour surround in both experiments. The results showed that in Experiment 1 the 5- and 7-month-old infants had novelty preference for the uniform-colour test array. This suggested that the infants' colour perception could be affected by surround colour. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the 7-month-olds showed a novelty preference for the two-colour test array, but the 5-month-olds showed no novelty preference. This suggested that 7-month-olds' colour perception could be affected by surround colour, but that of 5-month-olds could not. We discuss the contradiction of the results between Experiments 1 and 2. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Development of Three-Dimensional Object Completion in Infancy

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2008
Kasey C. Soska
Three-dimensional (3D) object completion was investigated by habituating 4- and 6-month-old infants (n= 24 total) with a computer-generated wedge stimulus that pivoted 15°, providing only a limited view. Two displays, rotating 360°, were then shown: a complete, solid volume and an incomplete, hollow form composed only of the sides seen during habituation. There were no reliable preferences for either test display by 4-month-olds. At 6 months, infants showed a reliable novelty preference for the incomplete test display. Infants in a control group (n= 24) not habituated to the limited-view wedge preferred neither test display. By 6 months, infants may represent simple objects as complete in 3D space despite a limited perspective. Possible mechanisms of development of 3D object completion are discussed. [source]


Something old, something new: a developmental transition from familiarity to novelty preferences with hidden objects

DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2010
Jeanne L. Shinskey
Novelty seeking is viewed as adaptive, and novelty preferences in infancy predict cognitive performance into adulthood. Yet 7-month-olds prefer familiar stimuli to novel ones when searching for hidden objects, in contrast to their strong novelty preferences with visible objects (Shinskey & Munakata, 2005). According to a graded representations perspective on object knowledge, infants gradually develop stronger object representations through experience, such that representations of familiar objects can be better maintained, supporting greater search than with novel objects. Object representations should strengthen with further development to allow older infants to shift from familiarity to novelty preferences with hidden objects. The current study tested this prediction by presenting 24 11-month-olds with novel and familiar objects that were sometimes visible and sometimes hidden. Unlike 7-month-olds, 11-month-olds showed novelty preferences with both visible and hidden objects. This developmental shift from familiarity to novelty preference with hidden objects parallels one that infants show months earlier with perceptible stimuli, but the two transitions may reflect different underlying mechanisms. The current findings suggest both change and continuity in the adaptive development of object representations and associated cognitive processes. [source]