Abstract
Although lots of studies about neon color spreading have been reported, there are few studies about the early perceptual development of it in human infants. The aim of this present study was to explore the perceptual development of neon color spreading in infants. A total of 28 infants, aged 3–4 and 5–6 months, participated in the present study. There were two conditions (experimental condition vs. control condition), and each infant participated in both conditions. In the experimental condition, two kinds of stimulus were presented side by side: an Ehrenstein neon color spreading pattern and a non-neon color spreading pattern. The latter was made by reversing the color arrangement of the Ehrenstein neon pattern. In the control condition, we separated the differently colored parts of the Ehrenstein neon color spreading pattern and the non-neon color spreading pattern in the experimental condition. Each experimental condition consisted of 2 trials. In each trial, stimulus was presented for 15 s. In this paradigm, we infer that if infants could perceive neon color spreading, they would show a preference for the neon pattern only in the experimental condition.The current results showed that the 5∼6-month-old infants had a significant preference for the neon pattern, but the 3∼4-month-old infants did not. Neither age group showed preference in the stimuli of the control condition. These results suggest that the 5∼6-month-old infants could perceive neon color spreading.