INFANTS RESPONSIVENESS TO STATIC-MONOCULAR DEPTH INFORMATION - A RECOVERY FROM HABITUATION APPROACH

Yonas and his colleagues have found that 7-month-old infants are sensitive to static-monocular depth information for the location of objects, but 5-month-olds are not. In previous studies, infants were presented with displays that created the illusion that one of two objects was closer or one side of an object was closer, and infants' reaching to the display was recorded. The present study assessed infants' sensitivity to static-monocular depth information using looking time as the dependent measure. Using a habituation-of-looking paradigm, 5- and 7-month-old infants were tested for sensitivity to the depth cues of angle and linear perspective, shading, and relative size. Results suggest that this habituation procedure is useful for assessing 7-month-olds' but not 5-month-olds' static-monocular depth sensitivity. © 1991.