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College of Education & Human Development Institute of Child Development

Institute of Child Development
51 East River Road - Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA
Tel: 612-624-0526 - Fax: 612-624-6373
Al Yonas

Albert Yonas

Professor
Ph.D., 1968, Cornell University

Office: 190 Child Development
Telephone: 612-624-6805
E-mail: yonas@umn.edu

Perceptual development

Dr. Yonas' work centers on how we come to perceive the layout of the visual world (see Yonas research Laboratory). His research isolates the visual information that makes perception possible and explores when in development infants become sensitive to that information. Most recently his group has found that while 7-month-old infants use the location of cast shadows to direct reaching to the apparently closer of two toys, 5-month-old infants do not do so. The finding that responsiveness to cast shadow information appears at about 6 months is consistent with previous work by Yonas and his collaborators on the onset of responsiveness to six other pictorial depth cues.

Recent publications

Yonas, A., & Elieff, C., (1999). The onset of sensitivity to linear perspective information in individual infants. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 40(4), 409.

Arterberry, M. E., & Yonas A. (2000). Perception of three-dimensional shape specified by optic flow by 8-week-old infants. Perception & Psychophysics, 62(3), 550-556.

Sen, M. G., Yonas, A., & Knill, D. C.(2001) Development of infants' sensitivity to surface contour information for spatial layout. Perception, 30(2), 167-176.

Yonas, A. (2001). Reflections on the study of infant perception and cognition: What does Morgan's Canon really tell us to do? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 78, 50-54.

Yonas, A., (2001) Two ecological approaches to cognition, Human Development, 44(1), 67-70.

Abecassis, M., Sera, M. D., Yonas A., & Schwade, J. (2001) What's in a shape? Children represent shape variability differently than adults when naming objects. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 78, 213-239.

Kavsek, J. J, Waidhas, J., & Yonas, A. (2001). Über die Perzeption illusionärer Konturierung drh Säuglinge (On the perception of illusory contours in infancy). Zeitschrift für Entwichlungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psycholgie, 33(2), 67-77.

Yonas, A., Granrud, C.E., Chov, M.H., & Alexander, A.J., (2005) Picture Perception in Infants: Do 9-month-olds Attempt to Grasp Objects Depicted in Photographs? Infancy 8(2):147-166

Yonas, A., & Granrud, C. (in press). Infants' Perception of Depth from Cast Shadows. Perception and Psychophysics.

Kavsek, M.J., & Yonas, A (in press) The perception of moving subjective contours by 4 month old infants. Perception.

Research projects

  • Localizing the processing of depth cues with MEG
  • Development of sensitivity to pictorial cues for depth
  • Sensitivity to optical expansion information for approach: improving the ability of drivers to avoid collision with vehicles in fog and snow.
 
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Last modified on August 15, 2008