Development of visual object recognition

Object recognition is the process by which humans organize the visual world into meaningful perceptual units. In this Review, we examine the developmental origins and maturation of object recognition by synthesizing research from developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience and computational modelling. We describe the extent to which infants demonstrate early traces of adult visual competencies within their first year. The rapid development of these competencies is supported by infant-specific biological and experiential constraints, including blurry vision and ‘self-curation’ of object viewpoints that best support learning. We also discuss how the neural mechanisms that support object-recognition abilities in infancy seem to differ from those in adulthood, with less engagement of the ventral visual pathway. We conclude that children’s specific developmental niche shapes early object-recognition abilities and their neural underpinnings. Humans organize the visual world into meaningful perceptual objects. In this Review, Ayzenberg and Behrmann examine the maturation of object recognition from infancy through childhood and describe how children’s environments and visual capabilities shape early object recognition.