Shape recognition and image orientation in young children

A comparison was made of recognition of images in the direct and inverse "top-bottom" orientation. A child two and a half years old was to find the test image on the response card or to give a verbal reply. The verbal responses have shown that the child identifies well both the shape and orientation of the images. In experiments with the response card, the presentation of images in inverse orientation did not result in any mistakes in recognizing the shape nor did it prolong the latency of the reaction, and no correlation was found between the orientation of the presented and the response figures. A child trained to find images of both similar shape and orientation is incapable of indicating properly the orientation of an image presented for a limited time period. These facts are interpreted in terms of the hypothesis of multichannel transfer of information about the pattern in the visual system.