Adults and children really don’t see eye-to-eye, according to a new study.
“The research reveals that kids under the age of 12 perceive visual information differently than adults do. While adults process different visual cues into one unified chunk of information, kids separate visual information. The childhood method of processing may allow kids to fine-tune their visual systems as they grow, the study authors say.
Researchers have long known that youngsters don’t fully integrate sensory information until after about age 8. Before then, information received by touch, sight and hearing isn’t as closely linked as the same information would be in the adult brain. But the use of even one organ can provide multiple types of information. In the case of vision, people perceive depth based on several cues, including binocular disparity (small differences between the images produced by each eye) and texture (nearby things are more detailed).
To find out how this information is integrated, scientists at University College London and Birkbeck, University of London asked children and adults to wear 3-D glasses and compare images of two slanted surfaces to judge which was the “flattest.” Images presented the participants with texture and binocular information either separately or at once. While adults were more accurate in their responses when they got both pieces of visual information together, kids weren’t, at least not kids under 12. Beyond age 12, children combined both types of information to improve their accuracy. The findings imply that adults combine different kinds of visual information into a single unified estimate, while children do not.”
Read more at Live Science
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