Characteristics of invariant recognition of visual objects in preschool children with typical and atypical development

The invariant recognition ability of five- to six-year-old children with typical and atypical patterns of development in terms of the shape of visual images varying in color, size, and location has been studied. It has been shown that the typically developing children of this age are able to identify the invariant form of a visual object regardless of any changes in its color, size, or location. The children with neurodevelopmental disorders have difficulties with identifying the shape of a visual object when its location among a large number of figures is changed. The children with early infantile autism exhibit different degrees of visual perceptual deficit. The children with the milder forms of autistic disorders have difficulties only with recognizing the shape of an image when its location is changed; the children with more severe forms of disorders showed a serious impairment of invariant recognition regardless of image color, size, and location.