The development of visual cognition: The emergence of spatial congruency bias

Abstract

In adults, spatial location plays a special role in visual object processing. People are more likely to judge two sequentially presented objects as being identical when they appear in the same location compared to in different locations (a phenomenon referred to as Spatial Congruency Bias [SCB]). However, no comparable Identity Congruency Bias (ICB) is found, suggesting an asymmetric location-identity relationship in object binding. What gives rise to this asymmetric congruency bias? This paper considered two possible hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 suggests that the asymmetric congruency bias results from an inherently special role of location in the visual system. In contrast, Hypothesis 2 suggests that the asymmetric congruency bias is a product of development, reflecting people's experience with the world. To distinguish the two hypotheses, we tested both adults' and 5-year-old children's SCB and ICB by Identity Judgment Experiments and Spatial Judgment Experiments, respectively. The study found that adults only exhibited a SCB, but no ICB. However, young children exhibited both SCB and ICB, suggesting a symmetric congruency bias and reciprocal influences between location and identity in early development. The results indicate that the asymmetric location-identity relationship develops as object identity's influence on location gets pruned away, while location's influence on identity is preserved, possibly due to people's gained experiences with regularities of the world. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Adults exhibit Spatial Congruency Bias-an asymmetric location-identity relationship with location biasing their judgment of object identities, but not vice versa. Asymmetric congruency bias may result from an inherently special role of location in visual system (Hypothesis 1) or accumulated experiences with the world (Hypothesis 2). To distinguish the two hypotheses, the study investigated the Spatial Congruency Bias and Identity Congruency Bias in both adults and 5-year-old children. Unlike adults who exhibited only Spatial Congruency Bias, 5-year-old children exhibited both Spatial Congruency Bias and Identity Congruency Bias.

Keywords: feature‐binding; object recognition; object‐location binding; spatial congruency bias; spatial location; visual cognition development.

Figure 1.

A. A sample trial of the Identity Judgment Experiments is illustrated. Participants judged whether the identity (shape) of the two stimuli were the same or different. Stimulus location was irrelevant to the task. The four possible locations are shown at the bottom right. To make the task more child-friendly, a cover story was used to give instructions (see inset), and the octopus image was used as the fixation cue: it flashed off and on before each stimulus to bring fixation back to center of the screen. Both stimuli and octopus appear bigger than in the actual experiment. B. A sample trial of the Spatial Judgment Experiments is illustrated. Participants judged whether the spatial location of the two stimuli were the same or different. Stimulus identity (shape, color) was irrelevant to the task. On different-location trials, the stimuli appeared in adjacent locations along an equal-eccentricity circle (closer distances in adults’ version than children’s version, shown at the bottom right; degrees are angular degrees along the circle).

Figure 2.

A. Absolute response bias plotted for Same and Different Location/Identity trials, in the Identity Judgment Experiment and Spatial Judgment Experiment with adults (left), and Identity Judgment Experiment and Spatial Judgment Experiment with children (right). The more negative the response bias was, the more likely participants responded “same”. The error bars represent standard errors. B. Spatial Congruency Bias vs. Identity Congruency Bias. The left figure shows SCB and ICB in adults, and the right figure shows SCB and ICB in children. The blue and red dots are individual subject data. The error bars represent standard errors.