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Maylott SE, Paukner A, Ahn YA, Simpson EA. Human and monkey infant attention to dynamic social and nonsocial stimuli. Dev Psychobiol 2020; 62:841-857. [PMID: 32424813 PMCID: PMC7944642 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The present study explored behavioral norms for infant social attention in typically developing human and nonhuman primate infants. We examined the normative development of attention to dynamic social and nonsocial stimuli longitudinally in macaques (Macaca mulatta) at 1, 3, and 5 months of age (N = 75) and humans at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 13 months of age (N = 69) using eye tracking. All infants viewed concurrently played silent videos-one social video and one nonsocial video. Both macaque and human infants were faster to look to the social than the nonsocial stimulus, and both species grew faster to orient to the social stimulus with age. Further, macaque infants' social attention increased linearly from 1 to 5 months. In contrast, human infants displayed a nonlinear pattern of social interest, with initially greater attention to the social stimulus, followed by a period of greater interest in the nonsocial stimulus, and then a rise in social interest from 6 to 13 months. Overall, human infants looked longer than macaque infants, suggesting humans have more sustained attention in the first year of life. These findings highlight potential species similarities and differences, and reflect a first step in establishing baseline patterns of early social attention development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E. Maylott
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
| | - Annika Paukner
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, England
| | - Yeojin A. Ahn
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
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Castiello U, Dadda M. A review and consideration on the kinematics of reach-to-grasp movements in macaque monkeys. J Neurophysiol 2018; 121:188-204. [PMID: 30427765 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00598.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The bases for understanding the neuronal mechanisms that underlie the control of reach-to-grasp movements among nonhuman primates, particularly macaques, has been widely studied. However, only a few kinematic descriptions of their prehensile actions are available. A thorough understanding of macaques' prehensile movements is manifestly critical, in light of their role in biomedical research as valuable models for studying neuromotor disorders and brain mechanisms, as well as for developing brain-machine interfaces to facilitate arm control. This article aims to review the current state of knowledge on the kinematics of grasping movements that macaques perform in naturalistic, seminaturalistic, and laboratory settings, to answer the following questions: Are kinematic signatures affected by the context within which the movement is performed? In what ways are kinematics of humans' and macaques' prehensile actions similar/dissimilar? Our analysis reflects the challenges involved in making comparisons across settings and species due to the heterogeneous picture in terms of the number of subjects, stimuli, conditions, and hands used. The kinematics of free-ranging macaques are characterized by distinctive features that are exhibited neither by macaques in laboratory setting nor by human subjects. The temporal incidence of key kinematic landmarks diverges significantly between species, indicating disparities in the overall organization of movement. Given such complexities, we attempt a synthesis of the extant body of evidence, intending to generate some significant implications for directions that future research might take to recognize the remaining gaps and pursue the insights and resolutions to generate an interpretation of movement kinematics that accounts for all settings and subjects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Umberto Castiello
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova , Padua , Italy
| | - Marco Dadda
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova , Padua , Italy
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EEG beta desynchronization during hand goal-directed action observation in newborn monkeys and its relation to the emergence of hand motor skills. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2018. [PMID: 29524845 PMCID: PMC6003410 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2018.02.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous developmental research suggests that motor experience supports the development of action perception across the lifespan. However, it is still unknown when the neural mechanisms underlying action-perception coupling emerge in infancy. The goal of this study was to examine the neural correlates of action perception during the emergence of grasping abilities in newborn rhesus macaques. Neural activity, recorded via electroencephalogram (EEG), while monkeys observed grasping actions, mimed actions and means-end movements during the first (W1) and second week (W2) of life was measured. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) during action observation was computed from the EEG in the alpha and beta bands, two components of the sensorimotor mu rhythm associated with activity of the mirror neuron system (MNS). Results revealed age-related changes in the beta band, but not the alpha band, over anterior electrodes, with greater desynchronization at W2 than W1 for the observation of grasping actions. Additionally, desynchronization to observed grasping actions at W2 was associated with infants’ motor skills – measured by a separate behavioral task – such that more grasping attempts were associated to greater beta ERD. These findings suggest the emergence of an early action-perception system, that relies on motor experience, shortly after birth.
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Abstract
High hypnotizability is associated with left-sided cerebral asymmetry, which could influence measurement of the Peripersonal Space (PPS). Right-handed participants with high (highs, n = 20), medium (mediums, n = 9), and low hypnotizability scores (lows, n = 20) performed the line bisection test on a computer screen automatically displaced at distances of 30, 60, and 90 cm from the subjects' eyes. Highs' results showed rightward bias of the bisection (Relative Error, RE) for all presentation distances. In contrast, in lows RE was displaced leftward at 30 cm and exhibited a progressive rightward shift at 60 and 90 cm, as occurs in the general population. Mediums' RE values were intermediate between highs' and lows' values. Bisection Times (BT) were significantly longer in highs/mediums than in lows. Findings indicate that the highs' bisection identifies PPS as if it was extrapersonal, but further studies should assess its functional characteristics. The highs/mediums longer BT suggest less efficient sensorimotor performance.
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Simpson EA, Sclafani V, Paukner A, Kaburu SSK, Suomi SJ, Ferrari PF. Handling newborn monkeys alters later exploratory, cognitive, and social behaviors. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2017; 35:12-19. [PMID: 28844729 PMCID: PMC5817041 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2017.07.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2017] [Revised: 07/30/2017] [Accepted: 07/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Touch is one of the first senses to develop and one of the earliest modalities for infant-caregiver communication. While studies have explored the benefits of infant touch in terms of physical health and growth, the effects of social touch on infant behavior are relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated the influence of neonatal handling on a variety of domains, including memory, novelty seeking, and social interest, in infant monkeys (Macaca mulatta; n=48) from 2 to 12 weeks of age. Neonates were randomly assigned to receive extra holding, with or without accompanying face-to-face interactions. Extra-handled infants, compared to standard-reared infants, exhibited less stress-related behavior and more locomotion around a novel environment, faster approach of novel objects, better working memory, and less fear towards a novel social partner. In sum, infants who received more tactile stimulation in the neonatal period subsequently demonstrated more advanced motor, social, and cognitive skills-particularly in contexts involving exploration of novelty-in the first three months of life. These data suggest that social touch may support behavioral development, offering promising possibilities for designing future early interventions, particularly for infants who are at heightened risk for social disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A Simpson
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Poolesville, MD, USA; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy.
| | - Valentina Sclafani
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Poolesville, MD, USA; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy; Winnicott Research Unit, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Annika Paukner
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Poolesville, MD, USA
| | - Stefano S K Kaburu
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Poolesville, MD, USA; Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy; University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Stephen J Suomi
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Poolesville, MD, USA
| | - Pier F Ferrari
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy; Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Lyon, France; Université Claude Bernard Lyon, France
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Roncone A, Hoffmann M, Pattacini U, Fadiga L, Metta G. Peripersonal Space and Margin of Safety around the Body: Learning Visuo-Tactile Associations in a Humanoid Robot with Artificial Skin. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0163713. [PMID: 27711136 PMCID: PMC5053419 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2016] [Accepted: 08/17/2016] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper investigates a biologically motivated model of peripersonal space through its implementation on a humanoid robot. Guided by the present understanding of the neurophysiology of the fronto-parietal system, we developed a computational model inspired by the receptive fields of polymodal neurons identified, for example, in brain areas F4 and VIP. The experiments on the iCub humanoid robot show that the peripersonal space representation i) can be learned efficiently and in real-time via a simple interaction with the robot, ii) can lead to the generation of behaviors like avoidance and reaching, and iii) can contribute to the understanding the biological principle of motor equivalence. More specifically, with respect to i) the present model contributes to hypothesizing a learning mechanisms for peripersonal space. In relation to point ii) we show how a relatively simple controller can exploit the learned receptive fields to generate either avoidance or reaching of an incoming stimulus and for iii) we show how the robot can select arbitrary body parts as the controlled end-point of an avoidance or reaching movement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Roncone
- iCub Facility, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
- Social Robotics Lab, Computer Science Department, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Matej Hoffmann
- iCub Facility, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Ugo Pattacini
- iCub Facility, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Luciano Fadiga
- Robotics, Brain, and Cognitive Sciences Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
- Section of Human Physiology, Ferrara University, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Giorgio Metta
- iCub Facility, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
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Cannon EN, Simpson EA, Fox NA, Vanderwert RE, Woodward AL, Ferrari PF. Relations between infants' emerging reach-grasp competence and event-related desynchronization in EEG. Dev Sci 2016; 19:50-62. [PMID: 25754667 PMCID: PMC7470427 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2013] [Accepted: 12/17/2014] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Recent reports of similar patterns of brain electrical activity (electroencephalogram: EEG) during action execution and observation, recorded from scalp locations over motor-related regions in infants and adults, have raised the possibility that two foundational abilities--controlling one's own intentional actions and perceiving others' actions--may be integrally related during ontogeny. However, to our knowledge, there are no published reports of the relations between developments in motor skill (i.e. recording actual motor skill performance) and EEG during both action execution and action observation. In the present study we collected EEG from 21 9-month-olds who were given opportunities to reach for toys and who also observed an experimenter reach for toys. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) was computed from the EEG during the reaching events. We assessed infants' reaching-grasping competence, including reach latency, errors, preshaping of the hand, and bimanual reaches, and found that desynchronization recorded in scalp electrodes over motor-related regions during action observation was associated with action competence during execution. Infants who were more competent reachers, compared to less competent reachers, exhibited greater ERD while observing reaching-grasping. These results provide initial evidence for an early emerging neural system integrating one's own actions with the perception of others' actions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin N Cannon
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Simpson
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Italy
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, Poolesville, USA
| | - Nathan A Fox
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, USA
| | - Ross E Vanderwert
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, USA
| | | | - Pier F Ferrari
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Italy
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Drury SS, Sánchez MM, Gonzalez A. When mothering goes awry: Challenges and opportunities for utilizing evidence across rodent, nonhuman primate and human studies to better define the biological consequences of negative early caregiving. Horm Behav 2016; 77:182-92. [PMID: 26506032 PMCID: PMC4802164 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2015] [Revised: 10/16/2015] [Accepted: 10/19/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care".Across mammalian species, mothers shape socio-emotional development and serve as essential external regulators of infant physiology, brain development, behavior patterns, and emotional regulation. Caregiving quality, consistency and predictability shape the infant's underlying neurobiological processes. Although the requirements for "optimal" caregiving differ across species, the negative long-term consequences of the absence of needed caregiving (e.g. neglect) or the presence of harmful/aversive caregiving (e.g. physical abuse), are translatable across species. Recognizing the significant potential of cross species comparisons in terms of defining underlying mechanisms, effective translation requires consideration of the evolutionary, ecological, and fundamental biological and developmental differences between and among species. This review provides both an overview of several success stories of cross-species translations in relation to negative caregiving and a template for future studies seeking to most effectively define the underlying biological processes and advance research dedicated to mitigating the lasting negative health consequences of child maltreatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stacy S Drury
- Tulane University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 1430 Tulane Ave, #8055, New Orleans, LA 70112, United States.
| | - Mar M Sánchez
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 20322, United States; Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 20329, United States
| | - Andrea Gonzalez
- Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
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