The development of visual acuity and crowding: Finding the balance between fine detail and 'gist' processing

Abstract

The adult visual system is characterised by high-resolution foveal vision and a peripheral field limited by crowding, the disruption to object recognition in clutter that gives a summary gist over fine detail. In children, crowding is elevated foveally, with the estimated age where foveal crowding drops to adult-like levels varying widely from 5 to 12+ years. As crowding restricts key processes like reading, characterisation of this developmental trajectory is critical. Using methods optimised to measure crowding in children, adults and typically-developing children (n=119; 3-13 years) judged the orientation of a foveal VacMan target either in isolation or surrounded by ghost flankers. For isolated elements, acuity (measured as gap-size thresholds) dropped rapidly to adult-like levels at 5-6 years. Thresholds rose when flanked/crowded, with elevations highest at 3-4 years, persisting at 5-6 years, and dropping to adult-like levels at 7-8 years. A meta-analysis of our results and 13 prior studies reveals a consistent developmental trajectory, despite wide methodological variations. We further demonstrate that developmental crowding shows the same selectivity for target-flanker similarity as peripheral crowding, consistent with common mechanisms. This prolonged development reveals a shifting balance in the visual system between the processing of fine detail vs. the gist of the scene.