WHAT CAN NEUROIMAGING TELL US ABOUT THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL CATEGORIES?

ABSTRACT

While brain imaging studies of visual cognition have contributed extensively to our understanding of the different mechanisms involved in object processing and categorization, in adulthood, infancy studies have only started to employ these techniques. We identify in this paper a few of the methodological and theoretical reasons that hindered a more enthusiastic use of imaging methods. Focusing on three theoretical questions that stand out from the infant object categorization literature we show that, when the methodology is adapted to the study of young populations and the interpretations guided by equivalent results from the adult literature, brain imaging can help shed light on cognitive development.

KEYWORDS: infants, categorization, brain imaging, ERPs, language.