Merrill-Palmer Quarterly

The relationship between visual organization, perceptual closure, and "compulsive-like" behaviors were examined in a sample of young children. Fifty-one preschool-aged children were administered a variety of measures assessing visual organization and perceptual closure, and embedded-figures performance. Parents reported on their children's compulsive-like behaviors (i.e., "Just Right" perceptions and repetitive behaviors). Children's performance on visual organization and perceptual-closure tasks were significantly related to their compulsive-like behaviors, and these associations were mediated by mental age. The results further validate the Childhood Routines Inventory (CRI) and highlight the sensory/perceptual components of the construct of normative compulsive-like behavior in young children.