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C81DEV: Developmental Psychology Essay.

Are perceptual abilities innate?

Perception is more than just seeing objects in the environment around us, it is an understanding

of the visual cues present and it can be argued whether or not these perceptual abilities are

innate or a product of an individual’s interaction and experiences with the environment around

us. Different features of perception such as size/shape constancy, parallax, occlusion and

perceiving depth contribute to our understanding of the world, helping us navigate and make Commented [A1]: + there is an outline of the content of
the essay
sense of all the information available in the environment. A considerable amount of evidence

suggests that perceptual abilities are innate, but the role of the environment on perceptual

abilities has also been well documented, leading us to question the indwelling abilities of

perception in humans. Commented [A2]: + debate mentioned

Walk, Gibson & Tighe (1957) first investigated the concept that perceptual abilities are innate Commented [A3]: - the start of paragraphs would benefit
from a topic sentence
by looking at the responses of light/dark-reared rats in reaction to an apparatus called the visual Commented [A4]: - should be “and” in text rather than “&”

cliff, which gave the impression of a steep drop on one side. Results from the study showed

that dark-reared rats demonstrated perceptual abilities, (perceiving visual depth/distance) by

exhibiting avoidance behaviour towards the visual cliff. Despite being deprived of visual

sensory information, the dark-reared rats were able to perceive the drop of the cliff, indicating

an intrinsic basis for perception, as there was no opportunity for rats to learn visual cues from

the environment. If innate perceptual abilities can be established in animals, the same may be

also true for humans. From initial findings by Gibson and Walk (1960), it would seem that

perceptual abilities are indeed innate. 8-month-old babies were coaxed to crawl along a visual

cliff, in order to test their perception of depth. The study demonstrated that babies are able to

perceive depth, as they crawled across the shallow side without hesitation, but encouragement

to crawl to the side that appeared to them as a drop, was met with hesitation or refusal. Gibson

and Walk (1960) theorised that babies used motion parallax to perceive depth cues and explored

this idea by covering one of the baby’s eyes and repeating the experiment. Results from this
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variant of the study produced identical results as the original and suggests that motion parallax

is inherent from birth. The study utilised babies who were just beginning to crawl, as they were

mobile, but had not had enough opportunity to learn about cues (such as depth) from the

environment. Gibson and Walk’s (1960) proposal that perceptual abilities are innate based on

evidence from this study can be criticised due to its lack of validity. Despite the use of infants

who had only recently begun to crawl, it is not possible to determine how much their experience

of movement, albeit very little, had on their perception.

A later study by Campos, Bertenthal & Kermoian (1992) goes on to suggest that mobility does

have a subtle effect on perception. Babies aged approximately 7 months were divided into

groups, dependent on their ability to crawl. Significantly, babies who had just started to crawl

exhibited a fear response (measured by accelerated heart rate), whilst babies who lacked the

ability to crawl showed an indifference to the drop (decreased heart rate), indicating an

awareness of the drop but they were not alarmed by it. This contradicts the findings by Gibson Commented [A5]: + evaluation of the previous study

and Walk (1960) and instead suggests that perceptual abilities such as the capability to perceive

depth are learned through an individual’s experience of moving through the environment. This

notion is further supported by a subsequent investigation by Campos, Bertenthal & Kermoian Commented [A6]: + more evaluation

(1992), in which a group of babies lacking the ability to crawl were given navigational

experience through the use of a wheeled walker. Compared to a control group of babies who

did not have this knowledge, only those who had the experience of movement showed a fear

response to being lowered above the drop. A study by Witherington, Campos, Anderson,

Lejeune and Seah (2005) substantiates the idea that perceptual abilities such as depth

perception are acquired through experiences/interactions with the environment. The study

consisted of two groups of infants, those who were able to crawl and those who had just started

walking. The study found that avoidance of the cliff edge was more consistent in those who

had started walking (due to greater experiences in motion) than babies who could crawl, thus

perceptual abilities are maintained and developed through experiences with the environment.
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Results from Bower’s (1965) study endorse the view that perceptual abilities are innate. Using Commented [A7]: - again, would benefit from a topic
sentence
a behavioural association technique, Bower conditioned babies to suck on a pacifier wired to a

particular box in which a ‘peek-a-boo’ reaction acted as a reward. It was found that the babies

were able to determine the same box at different distances -recognition of the box was indicated

by a sucking action. This suggests babies have an innate understanding of perceptual abilities

such as depth, as they are able to recognise that the same cube a greater distance away produces

a more compact image on the eye, without having been explicitly taught this information.

Strengthening the nature side of the debate, findings from Slater, Mattock & Brown (1990) Commented [A8]: + again, further evidence used to
evaluate points
increase the likelihood that perceptual abilities are innate. As the habituation paradigm states

that babies prefer to look at novel stimuli, 2-day-old babies were first familiarised with a

distinctly decorated cube. Subsequently, another cube was presented, identical in pattern but

not size. Preferential looking was found for the novel stimuli, demonstrating that babies were

able to distinguish between different sizes, thus showing an innate perceptual ability for size

constancy related to depth perception.

Another perceptual ability is one of occlusion; this is the capacity to distinguish between objects

in the foreground that obstructs the individual’s view of another object in the background. Commented [A9]: + clear introductory sentence

Kelman and Spelke (1983) investigated this by first showing babies a black bar, over which, a

white bar moved horizontally across the middle to reinforce the message of occlusion. After

this phase, the babies were presented with two stimuli, an intact black bar and a black bar with

a break in the middle. Babies demonstrated their ability to recognise the relationship between

figure and ground, preferring to look at the stimuli depicting a break in the bar, rather than a

continuous bar. As babies prefer looking at novel stimuli, it shows they acknowledge the

unbroken bar was one they had seen previously, despite it previously being occluded by the

white one. This provides strong evidence that perceptual abilities such as perceiving between

figure and ground are innate. Slater et al. (1990) conducted a replication of this experiment, Commented [A10]: + more evaluation included

this time using newborns instead of 3-month-old babies and found corroborating results,

strengthening the theory that perceptual abilities are innate.

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Although a large amount of evidence suggests that perceptual abilities are innate, it has also

been found that experience and environmental cues can have a profound effect on an

individual’s perception as well as the development of perceptual abilities. Thouless (1932)

conducted a study in which participants were asked to draw a dinner plate from their position

at the end of a table. The ellipses participants drew were more circular than reality and Thouless

(1932) theorised that ambient perspective cues were responsible for this exaggeration in

perception. To test this idea, Thouless (1932) eliminated perspective cues by requiring

participants to look into a chamber where only a slanted disk was visible. In this condition,

participants were able to draw the shape accurately, suggesting that perceptual abilities are not

just an innate skill, but are influenced by the environment; otherwise they would not be skewed Commented [A11]: - could explain a little further what
this means
by perspective cues.

This view is not supported by later research, such as by Taylor and Mitchell (1997) who found

that even with ambient perspective cues removed, circular exaggeration still occurred. They put

forward the idea that the participant’s understanding that the shape was a circle affected their

judgements. During a condition where participants were unaware that the shape was a circle,

their judgements became more accurate. A following study by Mitchell and Taylor (1999)

replicated this experiment with a sample consisting of children aged 3-7 years old. If it was

known that the shape was a slanted circle, younger children were more prone to exaggerate

circularity, but if this information was not made clear, the children’s judgements and

consequently drawings of the shapes were accurate. As younger children exaggerated the

circularity of the shape more greatly than the older ones, it suggests that learnt experiences can

have an impact on perception as children younger in age would have fewer experiences reading

environmental cues leading to less accurate assessments of shape.

In review of the literary evidence, demonstrations of perceptual abilities in young infants

indicate that perception is likely to be innate, as newborn babies are able to utilise perceptual
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abilities such as size constancy despite having little chance to interact and learn from the world.

It can be concluded that perceptual abilities are indeed innate, with the role of the environment

and our experiences taking a subtler role in aiding the development of perception. Commented [A12]: - conclusion is a little brief but does
give an answer
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References

Bower, T. G. R. (1965). Stimulus variables determining space perception in infants. Science,

149, 88-89. doi: 10.1126/science.149.3679.88 Commented [A13]: - Don’t need a space between “doi:”
and the number

Campos, J. J., Bertenthal, B. I., & Kermoian, R. (1992). Early experience and emotional

development: The emergence of wariness of heights. Psychological Science, 3, 61-64.

doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.1992.tb00259.x

Gibson, E. J., & Walk, R. D. (1960). The visual cliff. Scientific American, 209, 64-71.

Kellman, P. J., & Spelke, E. S. (1983). Perception of partly occluded objects in infancy.

Cognitive Psychology, 15, 483-524. doi: 10.1016/0010-0285(83)90017-8

Mitchell, P., & Taylor, L. (1999). Shape constancy and theory of mind: Is there a link?

Cognition, 70, 167-190. doi: 10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00011-6

Slater, A., Mattock, A., & Brown, E. (1990). Size constancy at birth: Newborn infants’

responses to retinal and real size. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 49, 314-

322. doi: 10.1016/0022-0965(90)90061-C

Taylor, L., & Mitchell, P. (1997). Judgements of apparent shape contaminated by knowledge

of reality: Viewing circles obliquely. British Journal of Psychology, 88, 653-670.

Retrieved from:

http://ezproxy.nottingham.ac.uk/login??url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/5784

4247?accountid=8018

Thouless, R. H. (1932). Individual differences in phenomenal regression. British Journal of

Psychology, 22, 216-241.

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Walk, R. D., Gibson, E. J., & Tighe, T. J. (1957). Behaviour of light-reared and dark-reared

rats on a visual cliff. Science, 126, 80-81. doi: 10.1126

Witherington, D. C., Campos, J. J., Anderson, D. I., Lejeune, L., & Seah, E. (2005).

Avoidance of heights on the visual cliff in newly walking infants. Infancy, 7, 285-298.

doi: 10.1207/s15327078in0703_4

Use of evidence (20%) Good

Knowledge Knowledge of
and background Descriptions & explanations of concepts Good
understanding literature & relations between concepts (25%)
Development of argument (20%) Good
Critical
thinking Critical reflection on theory and the work of others (20%) Excellent
Use of scientific language/style (5%) Good
Style and Structure of sentences and paragraphs (5%) Good
structure
References (5%) Excellent
Rubric score 68.25