Trixie stopped freaking out at the patterned images a long time ago. She’s still very interested in most of the them, but now in a controlled, deliberate manner. So what’s the verdict? What does she like best? While this survey of her preferences was not conducted in a rigorous manner, there were a few images that seemed to interest her above others. The common thread is surprising simple: a strong figure/ground relationship makes the cut. Images containing high black-to-white ratios fared well also. Mouse over this link to see which pictures she prefers. Among the winners, she likes the face best of all. A second set of images is now being created to test these results.
For more information: Actual research regarding Perceptual Development was conducted by Fantz (1961). His work indicates that babies really do have a Visual Preference for Faces. Thanks to Schaffer for this link.
As Bower et al (1970) have shown (see link), it’s likely that it wasn’t so much the images that disturbed Trixie back on 8/19, but the fact you got all up in her grill. If I was a couple weeks old, I wouldn’t want somebody shoving paper in my face, and even now I don’t seek out this pastime.
On another hand, the “visual cliff” of Gibson and Walk (1960) also demonstrated infant depth perception. But I feel that in 2003, with Xtreme Infancy currently in vogue, Trixie is ready to be tested on a “real cliff.” Dad, Mom? What do you think?
Anyway, just proud to have become one of the few non-Trixie humans to be mentioned in the Trixie Update.