# Development of visual object recognition

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $384,362

## Abstract

Project Summary
A central goal of visual neuroscience is to understand how the brain supports perception. A powerful approach
to studying the relationship between brain function and perception is to study the processes in parallel during
development. View-invariant visual object recognition is a computationally difficult but highly ecologically
relevant task. Visual function is poor in infants and emerges over different developmental trajectories
depending on the type of visual function. Understanding the developmental trajectory of visual object
recognition behaviorally and neurophysiologically will help constrain computational models that quantitatively
link neuronal responses to behavior.
Recent progress in neurophysiological measurement techniques have demonstrated convincingly that the
ventral visual stream, IT cortex in particular, contains a robust representation of objects. The experiments we
propose in this grant application aim to explore the links between the behavioral development of invariant
object recognition and the functional development of visual area IT.
First, we will use psychophysical techniques to longitudinally track the development of object recognition using
and easy to train object-oddity task. We will explore shape similarity and identity-preserving image variation,
two computational challenges the brain has to overcome to support invariant object recognition. We will also
characterize the robustness of object recognition to spatial clutter during development. We will use images of
three-dimensional objects placed on natural backgrounds and vary position, pose, and size.
Second, we will directly assess neurophysiologically the development of neural response properties and
receptive field organization of area IT to the same images of objects. The awake recordings will be interleaved
with behavioral assays in the same individuals to directly correlate behavioral and neural development.
These experiments will advance our understanding of the role of IT in support of 1) object recognition
performance that is robust to identity preserving image variation, and 2) the limitations that neural development
pose on the development of perception and cognition. Our greater goal is to elucidate the mechanisms by
which the ventral stream processes form to support invariant object recognition.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10132340
- **Project number:** 5R01EY031446-02
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Najib Judeh Majaj
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $384,362
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10132340

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10132340, Development of visual object recognition (5R01EY031446-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10132340. Licensed CC0.

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