Visual perception of forms in 5-12 years old children measured by Form Test

A new test of coherent form discrimination called Form Test is proposed in order to assess ventral stream functionality. The task consists of shape discrimination among 8 different forms. The form is obtained by a number white luminance coherent dots presented on a circular black background. Stimuli are presented in 5 levels of spatial coherence by increasing noise dots. Noise dots are non aligned and non coherent luminance dots which disturb shape discrimination. A sample of 163 children (75 females and 88 males, age range: 5-12) is considered. Results show significant differences among coherence levels: the number of correct answers decreases with noise increment. Moreover, the age of children affect the scores: the performance of children in Form Test improves with age. The results confirm that Form Test can be an helpful instrument to measure the ventral stream functionality and shows its sensitivity to the age differences.