Texture segregation in infants and children.

Segregation of textures based on differences in line orientation and blob size was tested in adults, infants and children, with a forced-choice preferential looking technique. Preference for a figure defined by differences in blob size already occurs in 2-month-old infants. In contrast, preference for a figure differing from the background by the orientation of its elements emerges at the end of the first year of life and becomes adult-like by school age.