object constancy

n. The perceptual tendency to see objects as unchanging as the light reflected from them changes with movement, occlusion, and changes in illumination or distance. Thus, if we see a dog, it looks like the same dog if it turns around or is partially obscured by a bush or runs into a shadow despite the considerable variation in the patterns of light reflected from it which strike our retina. This is a very difficult capacity for artificial intelligence systems to mimic.