Research on human infants has begun to shed light on early-developing processes for segmenting perceptual arrays into objects. Infants appear to perceive obiects by analyzing three-dlmensional surface arrangements and motions. Their per-ception does not accord with a general tendency to maximize figural goodness or to attend to nonaccldentol geometric relations in visual arrays. Object perceptlan does accord with principles governing the motions of material bodies: Infants divide perceptual arrays into units that move as connected wholes, that move separately from one another, that tend to maintain their size ond shape over motion, and that tend to act upon each other only on contact. These findings sug-gest that a general representation of obiect unity and boundaries is interposed between representations of surfaces and representations of objects of famlllor kinds. The processes that construct this representotion may be related to pro-cesses of physical reasonlng. This article is animated by two proposals about perception and perceptual development. One proposal is substantive: In situations where perception develops through experience, but without instruction or deliberate reflection, development tends to enrich perceptual abilities but not to change them fundamentally. The second proposal is methodological: In the above situations, studies of the origins and early development of perception can shed light on perception in its mature state. These proposals will arise from a discussion of the early development of one perceptual ability: the ability to organize arrays of surfaces into unitary, bounded, and persisting objects. PERCEMNG OBJECTS In recent years, my colleagues and I have been studying young infants ’ perception of objects in complex displays in which objects are adjacent to other objects, objects are partly hidden behind other objects, or objects move fully Preparation of this article was supported by grants from NIH (I-ID-132r18) and NSF (BNS 06082). I am grateful to Carol Krumhansl, Doug Medin, and Herb Pick for penetrating com-ments on an earlier &aft of this manuscript. Correspondence and rquests for reprints should be sent to Elizabeth S. Spelke, Cornell

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... This paper develops active strategies for a robot to acquire visual experience through simple experimental manipulation. The experiments are oriented towards determining what parts of the environment are physically coherent -- that is, which parts will move together, and which are more or less independent. We argue that following causal chains of events out from the robot's body into the environment allows for a very natural developmental progression of visual competence, and relate this idea to results in neuroscience.

For the purposes of manipulation, we would like to know what parts of the environment are physically coherent ensembles -- that is, which parts will move together, and which are more or less independent. It takes a great deal of experience before this judgement can be made from purely visual information. This paper develops active strategies for acquiring that experience through experimental manipulation, using tight correlations between arm motion and optic flow to detect both the arm itself and the boundaries of objects with which it comes into contact.

For the purposes of manipulation, we would like to know what parts of the environment are physically coherent ensembles -- that is, which parts will move together, and which are more or less independent. It takes a great deal of experience before this judgement can be made from purely visual information. This paper develops active strategies for acquiring that experience through experimental manipulation, using tight correlations between arm motion and optic flow to detect both the arm itself and the boundaries of objects with which it comes into contact. We argue that following causal chains of events out from the robot's body into the environment allows for a very natural developmental progression of visual competence, and relate this idea to results in neuroscience.

Experimentation is crucial to human progress at all scales, from society as a whole to a young infant in its cradle. It allows us to elicit learning episodes suited to our own needs and limitations. This paper develops active strategies for a robot to acquire visual experience through simple experimental manipulation. The experiments are oriented towards determining what parts of the environment are physically coherent -- that is, which parts will move together, and which are more or less independent. We argue that following causal chains of events out from the robot's body into the environment allows for a very natural developmental progression of visual competence, and relate this idea to results in neuroscience.