Hadad Batsheva, Maurer Daphne, Lewis Terri L
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
Vision Res. 2010 Apr 7;50(8):772-8. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2010.01.021. Epub 2010 Feb 9.
We tested adults and children aged 7 and 14 on the ability to integrate contour elements across variations in the collinearity of the target elements, their spatial proximity, and the relative spacing of the target elements to the background noise elements (Delta). When collinearity was high, the strength of integration for adults was largely independent of spatial proximity and varied only with Delta. It was only when collinearity was less reliable because the orientation of the elements was randomly jittered that spatial proximity began to influence adults' integration. These patterns correspond well to the probability that real-world contours compose a single object: collinear elements are more likely to reflect parts of a real object and adults integrate them easily regardless of the proximity among those collinear elements. The results from children demonstrate a gradual improvement of contour integration throughout childhood and the slow development of sensitivity to the statistics of natural scenes. Unlike adults, integration in children was limited by spatial proximity regardless of collinearity and one strong cue did not compensate for the other. Only after age 14 did collinearity, the most reliable cue, come to compensate efficiently for spatial proximity.
我们对成年人以及7岁和14岁的儿童进行了测试，考察他们在目标元素的共线性、空间接近度以及目标元素与背景噪声元素的相对间距（Delta）发生变化时整合轮廓元素的能力。当共线性较高时，成年人的整合强度在很大程度上与空间接近度无关，仅随Delta变化。只有当元素的方向随机抖动导致共线性不太可靠时，空间接近度才开始影响成年人的整合。这些模式与现实世界中的轮廓构成单个物体的概率非常吻合：共线元素更有可能反映真实物体的部分，成年人能够轻松地整合它们，而不管这些共线元素之间的接近程度如何。儿童的测试结果表明，整个童年时期轮廓整合能力在逐渐提高，对自然场景统计特征的敏感度发展缓慢。与成年人不同，儿童的整合受到空间接近度的限制，无论共线性如何，一个强烈的线索并不能弥补另一个线索的不足。只有到14岁以后，共线性这个最可靠的线索才开始有效地弥补空间接近度的影响。
