Development of object recognition in humans

Although the ability to perceive simple shapes emerges in infancy, the ability to recognize individual objects as well as adults do continues to develop through childhood into adolescence. Despite this slow development, recent neuroimaging studies have revealed that an area of the ventral visual cortex that responds selectively to the category of common objects is adult-like by 5-8 years of age. The challenge for future research will be to identify the specific visual skills involved in object recognition that continue to develop through childhood and adolescence, and the neural mechanisms underlying this protracted development.