1
|
Pflüger M, Buttelmann D, Elsner B. How children come to (not) detect and apply multiple functions for objects: Rethinking perseveration and functional fixedness. Cognition 2024; 251:105902. [PMID: 39096681 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Revised: 07/19/2024] [Accepted: 07/19/2024] [Indexed: 08/05/2024]
Abstract
Although humans acquire sophisticated and flexible tool-use skills rapidly throughout childhood, young children and adults still show difficulties using the same object for different functions, manifesting in, for example, perseveration or functional fixedness. This paper presents a novel model proposing bottom-up processes taking place during the acquisition of tool-use abilities through active interaction with objects, resulting in two kinds of cognitive representations of an object: a lower-level, action-centered representation and a higher-level, purpose-centered one. In situations requiring the use of an object to attain a goal, the purpose-centered representation is activated quickly, allowing for an immediate detection of suitable tools. In contrast, activation of the action-centered representation is slow and effortful, but comes with the advantage of offering wide-ranging information about the object's features and how they can be applied. This differential availability and activation of action-centered versus purpose-centered representations also contributes to a deeper understanding of the cognitive mechanisms underlying perseveration or functional fixedness during multifunctional tool use. When applied to the teaching and acquisition of tool use, the model indicates that the form in which object-related information is provided determines which of the two object representations is fostered, thereby either facilitating or complicating the flexible application of an object as a tool for different functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Pflüger
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
| | - David Buttelmann
- Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
| | - Birgit Elsner
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Wang SH, Basch S. A cultural perspective of action-based learning by infants and young children. ADVANCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR 2024; 67:164-199. [PMID: 39260903 DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2024.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/13/2024]
Abstract
Decades of research have informed about ways in which infants and young children learn through action in connection with their sensory system. However, this research has not strongly addressed the issues of cultural diversity or taken into account everyday cultural experiences of young learners across different communities. Diversifying the scholarship of early learning calls for paradigm shifts, extending beyond the analysis at the individual level to make close connections with real-world experience while placing culture front and center. On the other hand, cultural research that specifies diversity in caregiver guidance and scaffolding, while providing insights into young learners' cultural experiences, has been conducted separately from the research of action-based cross-modal learning. Taking everyday activities as contexts for learning, in this chapter, we summarize seminal work on cross-modal learning by infants and young children that connects action and perception, review empirical evidence of cultural variations in caregiver guidance for early action-based learning, and make recommendations of research approaches for advancing the scientific understanding about cultural ways of learning across diverse communities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Su-Hua Wang
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, United States.
| | - Samantha Basch
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Adibpour P, Hochmann JR. Infants' understanding of the causal power of agents and tools. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2309669120. [PMID: 38064512 PMCID: PMC10723150 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2309669120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Tools are objects that are manipulated by agents with the intention to cause an effect in the world. We show that the cognitive capacity to understand tools is present in young infants, even if these tools produce arbitrary, causally opaque effects. In experiments 1-2, we used pupillometry to show that 8-mo-old infants infer an invisible causal contact to account for the-otherwise unexplained-motion of a ball. In experiments 3, we probed 8-mo-old infants' account of a state change event (flickering of a cube) that lies outside of the explanatory power of intuitive physics. Infants repeatedly watched an intentional agent launch a ball behind an occluder. After a short delay, a cube, positioned at the other end of the occluder began flickering. Rare unoccluded events served to probe infants' representation of what happened behind the occluder. Infants exhibited larger pupil dilation, signaling more surprise, when the ball stopped before touching the cube, than when it contacted the cube, suggesting that infants inferred that the cause of the state change was contact between the ball and the cube. This effect was canceled in experiment 4, when an inanimate sphere replaced the intentional agent. Altogether, results suggest that, in the infants' eyes, a ball (an inanimate object) has the power to cause an arbitrary state change, but only if it inherits this power from an intentional agent. Eight-month-olds are thus capable of representing complex event structures, involving an intentional agent causing a change with a tool.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Parvaneh Adibpour
- Université Paris Cité, NeuroDiderot Unit UMR1141, INSERM, Paris75019, France
- Université Paris Saclay, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, NeuroSpin, Unité de recherche en NeuroImagerie Applicative Clinique et Translationnelle, Gif-sur-YvetteF-91191, France
| | - Jean-Rémy Hochmann
- CNRSUMR5229–Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Bron69675, France
- Université Lyon 1 Claude Bernard, Villeurbanne69100, France
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Sirois S, Brisson J, Blaser E, Calignano G, Donenfeld J, Hepach R, Hochmann JR, Kaldy Z, Liszkowski U, Mayer M, Ross-Sheehy S, Russo S, Valenza E. The pupil collaboration: A multi-lab, multi-method analysis of goal attribution in infants. Infant Behav Dev 2023; 73:101890. [PMID: 37944367 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
The rise of pupillometry in infant research over the last decade is associated with a variety of methods for data preprocessing and analysis. Although pupil diameter is increasingly recognized as an alternative measure of the popular cumulative looking time approach used in many studies (Jackson & Sirois, 2022), an open question is whether the many approaches used to analyse this variable converge. To this end, we proposed a crowdsourced approach to pupillometry analysis. A dataset from 30 9-month-old infants (15 girls; Mage = 282.9 days, SD = 8.10) was provided to 7 distinct teams for analysis. The data were obtained from infants watching video sequences showing a hand, initially resting between two toys, grabbing one of them (after Woodward, 1998). After habituation, infants were shown (in random order) a sequence of four test events that varied target position and target toy. Results show that looking times reflect primarily the familiar path of the hand, regardless of target toy. Gaze data similarly show this familiarity effect of path. The pupil dilation analyses show that features of pupil baseline measures (duration and temporal location) as well as data retention variation (trial and/or participant) due to different inclusion criteria from the various analysis methods are linked to divergences in findings. Two of the seven teams found no significant findings, whereas the remaining five teams differ in the pattern of findings for main and interaction effects. The discussion proposes guidelines for best practice in the analysis of pupillometry data.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sylvain Sirois
- Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada.
| | - Julie Brisson
- Centre de Recherche sur les fonctionnements et dysfonctionnements psychologiques (EA7475), Université de Rouen Normandie, France
| | - Erik Blaser
- Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA
| | - Giulia Calignano
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy
| | - Jamie Donenfeld
- Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK
| | - Jean-Rémy Hochmann
- CNRS UMR5229 - Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Université Lyon 1, France
| | - Zsuzsa Kaldy
- Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA
| | - Ulf Liszkowski
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
| | - Marlena Mayer
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
| | | | - Sofia Russo
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy
| | - Eloisa Valenza
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Lonardo L, Völter CJ, Lamm C, Huber L. Dogs Rely On Visual Cues Rather Than On Effector-Specific Movement Representations to Predict Human Action Targets. Open Mind (Camb) 2023; 7:588-607. [PMID: 37840756 PMCID: PMC10575556 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to predict others' actions is one of the main pillars of social cognition. We investigated the processes underlying this ability by pitting motor representations of the observed movements against visual familiarity. In two pre-registered eye-tracking experiments, we measured the gaze arrival times of 16 dogs (Canis familiaris) who observed videos of a human or a conspecific executing the same goal-directed actions. On the first trial, when the human agent performed human-typical movements outside dogs' specific motor repertoire, dogs' gaze arrived at the target object anticipatorily (i.e., before the human touched the target object). When the agent was a conspecific, dogs' gaze arrived to the target object reactively (i.e., upon or after touch). When the human agent performed unusual movements more closely related to the dogs' motor possibilities (e.g., crawling instead of walking), dogs' gaze arrival times were intermediate between the other two conditions. In a replication experiment, with slightly different stimuli, dogs' looks to the target object were neither significantly predictive nor reactive, irrespective of the agent. However, when including looks at the target object that were not preceded by looks to the agents, on average dogs looked anticipatorily and sooner at the human agent's action target than at the conspecific's. Looking times and pupil size analyses suggest that the dogs' attention was captured more by the dog agent. These results suggest that visual familiarity with the observed action and saliency of the agent had a stronger influence on the dogs' looking behaviour than effector-specific movement representations in anticipating action targets.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucrezia Lonardo
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christoph J. Völter
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Claus Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ludwig Huber
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Stojnić G, Gandhi K, Yasuda S, Lake BM, Dillon MR. Commonsense psychology in human infants and machines. Cognition 2023; 235:105406. [PMID: 36801603 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
Human infants are fascinated by other people. They bring to this fascination a constellation of rich and flexible expectations about the intentions motivating people's actions. Here we test 11-month-old infants and state-of-the-art learning-driven neural-network models on the "Baby Intuitions Benchmark (BIB)," a suite of tasks challenging both infants and machines to make high-level predictions about the underlying causes of agents' actions. Infants expected agents' actions to be directed towards objects, not locations, and infants demonstrated default expectations about agents' rationally efficient actions towards goals. The neural-network models failed to capture infants' knowledge. Our work provides a comprehensive framework in which to characterize infants' commonsense psychology and takes the first step in testing whether human knowledge and human-like artificial intelligence can be built from the foundations cognitive and developmental theories postulate.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gala Stojnić
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kanishk Gandhi
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Shannon Yasuda
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Brenden M Lake
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA; Center for Data Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Moira R Dillon
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Chung H, Meyer M, Debnath R, Fox NA, Woodward A. Neural correlates of familiar and unfamiliar action in infancy. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 220:105415. [PMID: 35339810 PMCID: PMC9086142 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2021] [Revised: 02/24/2022] [Accepted: 02/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral evidence shows that experience with an action shapes action perception. Neural mirroring has been suggested as a mechanism underlying this behavioral phenomenon. Suppression of electroencephalogram (EEG) power in the mu frequency band, an index of motor activation, typically reflects neural mirroring. However, contradictory findings exist regarding the association between mu suppression and motor familiarity in infant EEG studies. In this study, we investigated the neural underpinnings reflecting the role of familiarity in action perception. We measured neural processing of familiar (grasp) and novel (tool-use) actions in 9- and 12-month-old infants. Specifically, we measured infants' distinct motor/visual activity and explored functional connectivity associated with these processes. Mu suppression was stronger for grasping than for tool use, whereas significant mu and occipital alpha (indexing visual activity) suppression were evident for both actions. Interestingly, selective motor-visual functional connectivity was found during observation of familiar action, a pattern not observed for novel action. Thus, the neural correlates of perception of familiar actions may be best understood in terms of a functional neural network rather than isolated regional activity. Our findings provide novel insights on analytic approaches for identifying motor-specific neural activity while also considering neural networks involved in observing motorically familiar versus unfamiliar actions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Marlene Meyer
- University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Donders Institute, Radboud University, 6525 GD Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Ranjan Debnath
- Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, 39118 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Nathan A Fox
- University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
8
|
Prior knowledge shapes older adults' perception and memory for everyday events. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.plm.2022.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
|
9
|
Can Infants Generalize Tool Use From Spoon to Rake at 18 Months? JOURNAL OF MOTOR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1123/jmld.2022-0006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Infants start to use a spoon for self-feeding at the end of the first year of life, but usually do not use unfamiliar tools to solve problems before the age of 2 years. We investigated to what extent 18-month-old infants who are familiar with using a spoon for self-feeding are able to generalize this tool-use ability to retrieve a distant object. We tested 46 infants with different retrieval tasks, varying the tool (rake or spoon) and the target (toy or food). The tasks were presented in a priori descending order of difficulty: rake–toy condition, then either spoon–toy or rake–food, and finally spoon–food. Then, the same conditions were presented in reverse order to assess the transfer abilities from the easiest condition to the most difficult retrieval task. Spontaneously, 18-month-old infants performed the retrieval tasks better with the familiar tool, the easiest task being when the spoon was associated with food. Moreover, the transfer results show that being able to use a familiar tool in an unusual context seems necessary and sufficient for subsequent transfer to an unfamiliar tool in the unusual context, and that early and repetitive training of self-feeding with a spoon plays a positive role in later tool use.
Collapse
|
10
|
Will EA, Roberts JE. Motor Influences on Communication: Comparisons Between Down Syndrome and Fragile X Syndrome. AMERICAN JOURNAL ON INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2021; 126:460-476. [PMID: 34700347 PMCID: PMC8764748 DOI: 10.1352/1944-7558-126.6.460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Motor skills, an important foundation for language and communication, are considerably delayed in children with Down syndrome (DS) and fragile X syndrome (FXS). However, the impact of these impairments on expressive and receptive communication and the phenotypic specificity of these associations remains unknown. Participants included 37 with DS and 37 age and developmentally matched children with FXS. Syndrome-specific motor and communication profiles emerged, with higher communication scores seen in the DS versus FXS on, but lower gross motor scores. Significant associations between domains of motor and communication were identified for both groups with additional phenotype-specific patterns. Findings demonstrate the importance of early motor abilities for communication in DS and FXS. Implications for phenotypic specificity and targeted intervention are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A. Will
- Corresponding Author: Dr. Elizabeth A. Will, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Street, Columbia, South Carolina, 29208 ()
| | | |
Collapse
|
11
|
Gönül G, Takmaz E, Hohenberger A. Preschool children's use of perceptual-motor knowledge and hierarchical representational skills for tool making. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2021; 220:103415. [PMID: 34517261 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Revised: 08/27/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Although other animals can make simple tools, the expanded and complex material culture of humans is unprecedented in the animal kingdom. Tool making is a slow and late-developing ability in humans, and preschool children find making tools to solve problems very challenging. This difficulty in tool making might be related to the lack of familiarity with the tools and may be overcome by children's long term perceptual-motor knowledge. Thus, in this study, the effect of tool familiarity on tool making was investigated with a task in which 5-to-6-year-old children (n = 75) were asked to remove a small bucket from a vertical tube. The results show that children are better at tool making if the tool and its relation to the task are familiar to them (e.g., soda straw). Moreover, we also replicated the finding that hierarchical complexity and tool making were significantly related. Results are discussed in light of the ideomotor approach.
Collapse
|
12
|
Ossmy O, Han D, Kaplan BE, Xu M, Bianco C, Mukamel R, Adolph KE. Children do not distinguish efficient from inefficient actions during observation. Sci Rep 2021; 11:18106. [PMID: 34518566 PMCID: PMC8438080 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-97354-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Observation is a powerful way to learn efficient actions from others. However, the role of observers' motor skill in assessing efficiency of others is unknown. Preschoolers are notoriously poor at performing multi-step actions like grasping the handle of a tool. Preschoolers (N = 22) and adults (N = 22) watched video-recorded actors perform efficient and inefficient tool use. Eye tracking showed that preschoolers and adults looked equally long at the videos, but adults looked longer than children at how actors grasped the tool. Deep learning analyses of participants' eye gaze distinguished efficient from inefficient grasps for adults, but not for children. Moreover, only adults showed differential action-related pupil dilation and neural activity (suppressed oscillation power in the mu frequency) while observing efficient vs. inefficient grasps. Thus, children observe multi-step actions without "seeing" whether the initial step is efficient. Findings suggest that observer's own motor efficiency determines whether they can perceive action efficiency in others.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ori Ossmy
- Department of Psychology, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Room 403, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
| | - Danyang Han
- Department of Psychology, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Room 403, New York, NY, 10003, USA
| | - Brianna E Kaplan
- Department of Psychology, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Room 403, New York, NY, 10003, USA
| | - Melody Xu
- Department of Psychology, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Room 403, New York, NY, 10003, USA
| | - Catherine Bianco
- Department of Psychology, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Room 403, New York, NY, 10003, USA
| | - Roy Mukamel
- School of Psychological Sciences, Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, Room 403, New York, NY, 10003, USA
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Cho I, Lee Y, Song HJ. Six-month-olds' ability to use linguistic cues when interpreting others' pointing actions. Infant Behav Dev 2021; 64:101621. [PMID: 34371386 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2020] [Revised: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The present research investigated whether six-month-olds who rarely produce pointing actions can detect the object-directedness and communicative function of others' pointing actions when linguistic information is provided. In Experiment 1, infants were randomly assigned to either a novel-word or emotional-vocalization condition. They were first familiarized with an event in which an actor uttered either a novel label (novel-word condition) or exclamatory expression (emotional-vocalization condition) and then pointed to one of two objects. Next, the positions of the objects were switched. During test trials, each infant watched the new-referent event where the actor pointed to the object to which the actor had not pointed before or the old-referent event where the actor pointed to the old object in its new location. Infants in the novel-word condition looked reliably longer at the new-referent event than at the old-referent event, suggesting that they encoded the object-directedness of the actor's point. In contrast, infants in the emotional-vocalization condition showed roughly equal looking times to the two events. To further examine infants' understanding of the communicative aspect of an actor's point using a different communicative context, Experiment 2 used an identical procedure to the novel-word condition in Experiment 1, except there was only one object present during the familiarization trials. When the familiarization trials did not include a contrasting object, we found that the communicative intention of the actor's point could be ambiguous. The infants showed roughly equal looking times during the two test events. The current research suggests that six-month-olds understand the object-directedness and communicative intention of others' pointing when presented with a label, but not when presented with an emotional non-speech vocalization.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Isu Cho
- Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Yoonha Lee
- Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Hyun-Joo Song
- Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Beisert M, Daum MM. Compatibility Effects in Young Children's Tool Use: Learning and Transfer. Child Dev 2020; 92:e76-e90. [PMID: 32864749 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
An inherent component of tool-use actions is the transformation of the user's operating movement into the desired effect. In this study, the relevance of this transformation for young children's learning of tool-use actions was investigated. Sixty-four children at the age of 27-30 months learned to use levers which either simply extended (compatible transformation) or reversed (incompatible transformation) their operating movements. Data revealed a compatibility effect as well as transfer effects originating from the two different types of transformations. Furthermore, results suggest that young children's tool-use learning is not a uniform process, but has to be regarded individually depending on the type of transformation.
Collapse
|
15
|
Getting a grip on early intention understanding: The role of motor, cognitive, and social factors. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2020. [PMID: 32859284 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
Abstract
This chapter considers various factors that facilitate infants' understanding of other people's intentions. As adults, we view the actions people perform around us as intentional, to achieve a goal, rather than idle movements. For example, when observing another person perform a simple grasping action, such as picking up a slice of pizza, we perceive this action as goal-directed. Due to our understanding of the person's intention, we focus more so on the relation between the person and their goal, rather than the motion involved in the action. Infants develop an understanding of intentional agents and their goals within the first year of life. This chapter reviews multiple factors that are at play in facilitating infants' learning about the intentions of others' actions. We consider this from various perspectives, including the role of active experience, sensitivity to behavioral cues, cognitive factors, and social factors. We first review evidence concerning infants' learning of intentional actions from active experience. We then go on to evaluate how this learning could also come about via comparison processes, statistical learning, and use of behavioral cues such as object labeling and action effects. We also review social factors such as infant-directed actions and triadic engagement within social interactions that emerging evidence suggests are helpful in facilitating infants' understanding of other people's actions. Finally, we consider the extent to which these factors interact with one another in different contexts, as well as implications and future directions.
Collapse
|
16
|
Melzel S, Paulus M. The development of the prediction of complex actions in early childhood. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2020.1773786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Saskia Melzel
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Markus Paulus
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Krogh-Jespersen S, Henderson AME, Woodward AL. Let's get it together: Infants generate visual predictions based on collaborative goals. Infant Behav Dev 2020; 59:101446. [PMID: 32325310 PMCID: PMC7299182 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2019] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Infants engage in social interactions that include multiple partners from very early in development. A growing body of research shows that infants visually predict the outcomes of an individual's intentional actions, such as a person reaching towards an object (e.g., Krogh-Jespersen & Woodward, 2014), and even show sophistication in their predictions regarding failed actions (e.g., Brandone, Horwitz, Aslin, & Wellman, 2014). Less is known about infants' understanding of actions involving more than one individual (e.g., collaborative actions), which require representing each partners' actions in light of the shared goal. Using eye-tracking, Study 1 examined whether 14-month-old infants visually predict the actions of an individual based on her previously shared goal. Infants viewed videos of two women engaged in either a collaborative or noncollaborative interaction. At test, only one woman was present and infants' visual predictions regarding her future actions were measured. Fourteen-month-olds anticipated an individual's future actions based on her past collaborative behavior. Study 2 revealed that 11-month-old infants only visually predict higher-order shared goals after engaging in a collaborative intervention. Together, our results indicate that by the second year after birth, infants perceive others' collaborative actions as structured by shared goals and that active engagement in collaboration strengthens this understanding in young infants.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sheila Krogh-Jespersen
- Department of Medical Social Science, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60614, United States.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
18
|
Kaur M, Detherage A, Needham AW. Unconventional tool use in infants: Using a familiar tool in a novel way in the second year of life. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
|
19
|
Affiliation(s)
- Lauren H. Howard
- Department of Psychology, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, 17603, USA
| | - Amanda L. Woodward
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Babik I, Movva N, Baraldi Cunha A, Lobo MA. Development of self-feeding behavior in children with typical development and those with arm movement impairments. Dev Psychobiol 2019; 61:1191-1203. [PMID: 31001820 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2018] [Revised: 03/20/2019] [Accepted: 03/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Self-feeding is a critical self-care skill that unites motor abilities (e.g., grasping and transporting utensils/food to the mouth) and cognitive abilities (e.g., using a spoon as a tool). This cross-sectional study assessed self-feeding behavior in a sample of 38 children with typical development (TD) and compared it between 18 of those children and 18 age- and sex-matched peers with arm movement impairments (MI). Children were assessed with a bowl of cereal and two spoons presented in four different orientations. Results suggested that children with MI were less successful than their TD peers in both motor aspects (e.g., grasp and transport of food and utensils) and cognitive aspects (correct grasp across spoon orientations) of self-feeding. Novel findings highlight: (a) interesting differences in visual attention between children with TD or MI; (b) the role of hand-preference in the correct grasping of the spoon(s) and effective self-feeding; (c) the positive relation between motor and cognitive aspects of self-feeding; and (d) that greater variability of self-feeding behavior relates to improved performance of cognitive aspects of the task. These results identify challenging components of self-feeding for children with MI that should be targeted by early interventions and assistive technologies aimed at increasing self-feeding independence.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Iryna Babik
- Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
| | - Naimisha Movva
- Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Andrea Baraldi Cunha
- Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
| | - Michele A Lobo
- Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Babik I, Cunha AB, Ross SM, Logan SW, Galloway JC, Lobo MA. Means-end problem solving in infancy: Development, emergence of intentionality, and transfer of knowledge. Dev Psychobiol 2019; 61:191-202. [PMID: 30390313 PMCID: PMC6384156 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2018] [Revised: 09/21/2018] [Accepted: 09/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Behaviors and performance of 23 typically developing infants were assessed longitudinally at 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months in two means-end tasks: pulling a towel or rotating a turntable to obtain a supported object. With age, infants performed more goal-directed behaviors, leading to increased problem-solving success. Intentionality emerged earlier in the towel task than in the turntable task (6.9 vs. 10.8 months). Potential knowledge transfer between the tasks was first observed at 9 months. This study provides insight into the development of means-end learning, the emergence of intentionality, and potential transfer of knowledge in tasks involving a similar concept (support) but requiring different modes of action for success (pulling vs. rotating).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Iryna Babik
- Department of Physical Therapy, Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Andrea Baraldi Cunha
- Department of Physical Therapy, Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Samantha M. Ross
- College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Samuel W. Logan
- College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - James C. Galloway
- Department of Physical Therapy, Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Michele A. Lobo
- Department of Physical Therapy, Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Hilton BC, Kuhlmeier VA. Intention Attribution and the Development of Moral Evaluation. Front Psychol 2019; 9:2663. [PMID: 30666225 PMCID: PMC6330285 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2018] [Accepted: 12/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Research with infants and toddlers suggests that even early in development, humans evaluate others by considering the outcome of an action in relation to the intention underlying it. When someone tries but fails to do a good deed, for example, it seems that it is "the thought that counts." However, research with slightly older children in the preschool years has produced mixed results: in some cases, children are solely considering the positive or negative outcome of an action when evaluating others, while in others, intention attributions are integrated. Such contradictory findings have prompted debate about the development of moral reasoning. Here, we examine extant research on early moral evaluation and propose that differences in the way that task procedures present intention and outcome information can (1) support or preclude young children's intention attribution and (2) alter the relative saliency or predominance of each kind of information. In turn, these differences would influence the frequency and degree to which young children generate intention-oriented moral evaluations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brooke C. Hilton
- Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | | |
Collapse
|
23
|
Srinivasan SM, Bhat AN. Differences in means-end exploration between infants at risk for autism and typically developing infants in the first 15 months of life. Dev Psychobiol 2018; 61:203-215. [PMID: 30511480 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2018] [Revised: 10/19/2018] [Accepted: 10/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Our study compared means-end exploration in infants at risk (AR) for autism and typically developing (TD) infants using a nested box paradigm. Sixteen AR and 16 TD infants were observed at 9, 12, and 15 months with follow-up at 18 and 24 months. We collected video data on three tasks involving retrieval of a small toy by opening (a) an opaque box, (b) a transparent box, and (c) two nested boxes. Dependent variables included hand bias, time to completion, bilateral hand use, problem-solving strategies used, and tester assistance required. There were no group differences in terms of hand biases. Compared to TD infants, AR infants had lower bilateral hand use, poor problem solving skills, and required greater assistance. Both groups demonstrated age-related improvements in motor and cognitive skills. Means-end exploration provides a window into the bilateral coordination and motor planning/problem-solving abilities of young infants at risk for autism. Lastly, object retrieval tasks could serve as important learning contexts for at-risk infants.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sudha M Srinivasan
- IDC School of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India.,Department of Kinesiology, Physical Therapy Program, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
| | - Anjana N Bhat
- Department of Kinesiology, Physical Therapy Program, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut.,Department of Physical Therapy, Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.,Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Cunha AB, Babik I, Ross SM, Logan SW, Galloway JC, Clary E, Lobo MA. Prematurity may negatively impact means-end problem solving across the first two years of life. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2018; 81:24-36. [PMID: 29609836 PMCID: PMC6131031 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2018.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2017] [Revised: 03/16/2018] [Accepted: 03/19/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Preterm infants are at risk for delays in motor, perceptual, and cognitive development. While research has shown preterm infants may exhibit learning delays in the first months of life, these delays are commonly under-diagnosed. The purpose of this study was to longitudinally evaluate behavioral performance and learning in two means-end problem-solving tasks for 30 infants born preterm (PT) and 23 born full-term (FT). Infants were assessed at 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months-old in tasks that required towel pulling or turntable rotation to obtain a distant object. PT infants performed more non-goal-directed and less goal-directed behavior than FT infants throughout the study, resulting in a lower success rate among PT infants. PT infants showed delayed emergence of intentionality (prevalence of goal-directed behaviors) compared to FT infants in both tasks. Amount and variability of behavioral performance significantly correlated with task success differentially across age. The learning differences documented between PT and FT infants suggest means-end problem-solving tasks may be useful for the early detection of learning delays. The identification of behaviors associated with learning and success across age may be used to guide interventions aimed at advancing early learning for infants at risk.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Baraldi Cunha
- Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Iryna Babik
- Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Samantha M Ross
- College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Samuel W Logan
- College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - James C Galloway
- Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Erika Clary
- Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | - Michele A Lobo
- Biomechanics & Movement Science Program, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Wermelinger S, Gampe A, Daum MM. The dynamics of the interrelation of perception and action across the life span. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2018; 83:116-131. [PMID: 30083839 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-018-1058-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2018] [Accepted: 07/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Successful social interaction relies on the interaction partners' perception, anticipation and understanding of their respective actions. The perception of a particular action and the capability to produce this action share a common representational ground. So far, no study has explored the interrelation between action perception and production across the life span using the same tasks and the same measurement techniques. This study was designed to fill this gap. Participants between 3 and 80 years (N = 214) observed two multistep actions of different familiarities and then reproduced the according actions. Using eye tracking, we measured participants' action perception via their prediction of action goals during observation. To capture subtler perceptual processes, we additionally analysed the dynamics and recurrent patterns within participants' gaze behaviour. Action production was assessed via the accuracy of the participants' reproduction of the observed actions. No age-related differences were found for the perception of the familiar action, where participants of all ages could rely on previous experience. In the unfamiliar action, where participants had less experience, action goals were predicted more frequently with increasing age. The recurrence in participants' gaze behaviour was related to both, age and action production: gaze behaviour was more recurrent (i.e. less flexible) in very young and very old participants, and lower levels of recurrence (i.e. greater flexibility) were related to higher scores in action production across participants. Incorporating a life-span perspective, this study illustrates the dynamic nature of developmental differences in the associations of action production with action perception.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Wermelinger
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, Box 21, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Anja Gampe
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, Box 21, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Moritz M Daum
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14, Box 21, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland.,Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Krogh-Jespersen S, Woodward AL. Reaching the goal: Active experience facilitates 8-month-old infants' prospective analysis of goal-based actions. J Exp Child Psychol 2018; 171:31-45. [PMID: 29499431 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2016] [Revised: 12/26/2017] [Accepted: 01/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
From early in development, infants view others' actions as structured by intentions, and this action knowledge may be supported by shared action production/perception systems. Because the motor system is inherently prospective, infants' understanding of goal-directed actions should support predictions of others' future actions, yet little is known about the nature and developmental origins of this ability, specifically whether young infants use the goal-directed nature of an action to rapidly predict future social behaviors and whether their action experience influences this ability. Across three conditions, we varied the level of action experience infants engaged in to determine whether motor priming influenced infants' ability to generate rapid social predictions. Results revealed that young infants accurately generated goal-based visual predictions when they had previously been reaching for objects; however, infants who passively observed a demonstration were less successful. Further analyses showed that engaging the cognitively based prediction system to generate goal-based predictions following motor engagement resulted in slower latencies to predict, suggesting that these smart predictions take more time to deploy. Thus, 8-month-old infants may have motor representations of goal-directed actions, yet this is not sufficient for them to predict others' actions; rather, their own action experience supports the ability to rapidly implement knowledge to predict future behavior.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Amanda L Woodward
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Loucks J, Sommerville J. Developmental Change in Action Perception: Is Motor Experience the Cause? INFANCY 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/infa.12231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
28
|
Milward SJ, Sebanz N. Imitation of coordinated actions: How do children perceive relations between different parts? PLoS One 2018; 13:e0189717. [PMID: 29298354 PMCID: PMC5751985 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2017] [Accepted: 11/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Young children not only need to learn how to perform isolated actions, but also temporally and spatially coordinated actions such as using a knife and fork. Routes to learning such coordinated actions include imitation and participation in joint action. However, little is known about the mechanisms guiding transmission of coordinated actions through observation and joint action performance. This paper reports an experiment comparing children’s tendency to imitate multiple, coordinated actions following demonstration by a single model acting bimanually (Bimanual Observation condition), two models performing the same actions jointly with one performing each hand action (Joint Observation condition) and a condition in which the child actively takes part in the joint action demonstration by performing one part in coordination with a partner (Joint Action condition). When children were subsequently left alone to perform the task independently, they were more likely to imitate both coordinated actions in the two observation conditions than in the Joint Action condition, with no difference between performance in Bimanual and Joint Observation conditions. It is argued that this is due to children being more able to form a global representation of both actions and the relations between the two when observing from a distance than when actively involved in the task.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sophie J. Milward
- Central European University, Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest, Hungary
- * E-mail:
| | - Natalie Sebanz
- Central European University, Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest, Hungary
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Vincini S, Jhang Y, Buder EH, Gallagher S. Neonatal Imitation: Theory, Experimental Design, and Significance for the Field of Social Cognition. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1323. [PMID: 28824502 PMCID: PMC5543082 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2017] [Accepted: 07/18/2017] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Neonatal imitation has rich implications for neuroscience, developmental psychology, and social cognition, but there is little consensus about this phenomenon. The primary empirical question, whether or not neonatal imitation exists, is not settled. Is it possible to give a balanced evaluation of the theories and methodologies at stake so as to facilitate real progress with respect to the primary empirical question? In this paper, we address this question. We present the operational definition of differential imitation and discuss why it is important to keep it in mind. The operational definition indicates that neonatal imitation may not look like prototypical imitation and sets non-obvious requirements on what can count as evidence for imitation. We also examine the principal explanations for the extant findings and argue that two theories, the arousal hypothesis and the Association by Similarity Theory, which interprets neonatal imitation as differential induction of spontaneous behavior through similarity, offer better explanations than the others. With respect to methodology, we investigate what experimental design can best provide evidence for imitation, focusing on how differential induction may be maximized and detected. Finally, we discuss the significance of neonatal imitation for the field of social cognition. Specifically, we propose links with theories of social interaction and direct social perception. Overall, our goals are to help clarify the complex theoretical issues at stake and suggest fruitful guidelines for empirical research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Vincini
- Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico City, Mexico
| | - Yuna Jhang
- Department of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology, Chung Shan Medical UniversityTaichung, Taiwan
| | - Eugene H. Buder
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, MemphisTN, United States
- Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, MemphisTN, United States
| | - Shaun Gallagher
- Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, MemphisTN, United States
- Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis, MemphisTN, United States
- Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong, WollongongNSW, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Loucks J, Mutschler C, Meltzoff AN. Children's Representation and Imitation of Events: How Goal Organization Influences 3-Year-Old Children's Memory for Action Sequences. Cogn Sci 2016; 41:1904-1933. [PMID: 27882595 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2015] [Revised: 07/19/2016] [Accepted: 08/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Children's imitation of adults plays a prominent role in human cognitive development. However, few studies have investigated how children represent the complex structure of observed actions which underlies their imitation. We integrate theories of action segmentation, memory, and imitation to investigate whether children's event representation is organized according to veridical serial order or a higher level goal structure. Children were randomly assigned to learn novel event sequences either through interactive hands-on experience (Study 1) or via storybook (Study 2). Results demonstrate that children's representation of observed actions is organized according to higher level goals, even at the cost of representing the veridical temporal ordering of the sequence. We argue that prioritizing goal structure enhances event memory, and that this mental organization is a key mechanism of social-cognitive development in real-world, dynamic environments. It supports cultural learning and imitation in ecologically valid settings when social agents are multitasking and not demonstrating one isolated goal at a time.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeff Loucks
- Department of Psychology, University of Regina
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
31
|
Xu J, Saether L, Sommerville JA. Experience facilitates the emergence of sharing behavior among 7.5-month-old infants. Dev Psychol 2016; 52:1732-1743. [PMID: 27657650 PMCID: PMC5083237 DOI: 10.1037/dev0000174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Given the centrality of prosociality in everyday social functioning, understanding the factors and mechanisms underlying the origins of prosocial development is of critical importance. This experiment investigated whether experience with reciprocal object exchanges can drive the developmental onset of sharing behavior. Seven-month-old infants took part in 2 laboratory visits to assess their sharing behavior and ability to release objects. During the intervening 7- to 14-day period parents led infants in an intervention in which they were either encouraged to release objects into a container (bucket condition, n = 20), or share objects with the parent in the context of reciprocal object exchanges (sharing condition, n = 20). Results showed that infants in the sharing condition shared significantly more than infants in the bucket condition following the intervention, and infants in the sharing condition significantly increased their sharing behavior across the 2 visits. Parental empathy moderated the effect of this sharing intervention, but frequency of practice did not. These results suggest that reciprocal turn-taking in dyadic object-exchange interactions may facilitate the early emergence of sharing behavior, and this effect is mediated by parental empathy. (PsycINFO Database Record
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jing Xu
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
32
|
Caggiano V, Fleischer F, Pomper JK, Giese MA, Thier P. Mirror Neurons in Monkey Premotor Area F5 Show Tuning for Critical Features of Visual Causality Perception. Curr Biol 2016; 26:3077-3082. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2016] [Revised: 09/14/2016] [Accepted: 10/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
|
33
|
Senna I, Addabbo M, Bolognini N, Longhi E, Macchi Cassia V, Turati C. Infants' Visual Recognition of Pincer Grip Emerges Between 9 and 12 Months of Age. INFANCY 2016; 22:389-402. [PMID: 33158356 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The development of the ability to recognize the whole human body shape has long been investigated in infants, while less is known about their ability to recognize the shape of single body parts, and in particular their biomechanical constraints. This study aimed to explore whether 9- and 12-month-old infants have knowledge of a hand-grasping movement (i.e., pincer grip), being able to recognize violations of the hand's anatomical constraints during the observation of that movement. Using a preferential looking paradigm, we showed that 12-month-olds discriminate between biomechanically possible and impossible pincer grips, preferring the former over the latter (Experiment 1). This capacity begins to emerge by 9 months of age, modulated by infants' own sensorimotor experience with pincer grip (Experiment 2). Our findings indicate that the ability to visually discriminate between pincer grasps differing in their biomechanical properties develops between 9 and 12 months of age, and that experience with self-produced hand movements might help infants in building a representation of the hand that encompasses knowledge of the physical constraints of this body part.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Irene Senna
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department and Cognitive Interaction Technology-Center of Excellence, Bielefeld University.,Department of Psychology & NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milan-Bicocca
| | - Margaret Addabbo
- Department of Psychology & NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milan-Bicocca
| | - Nadia Bolognini
- Department of Psychology & NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milan-Bicocca.,Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Istituto Auxologico Italiano
| | - Elena Longhi
- Department of Psychology & NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milan-Bicocca.,Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London
| | - Viola Macchi Cassia
- Department of Psychology & NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milan-Bicocca
| | - Chiara Turati
- Department of Psychology & NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milan-Bicocca
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Johnson KM, Woods RJ. Give Me a Hand: Adult Involvement During Object Exploration Affects Object Individuation in Infancy. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2016; 25:406-425. [PMID: 28082834 PMCID: PMC5222598 DOI: 10.1002/icd.1942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2014] [Accepted: 09/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The development of object individuation, a fundamental ability that supports identification and discrimination of objects across discrete encounters, has been examined extensively by researchers. There are significant advancements in infants' ability to individuate objects during the first year-and-a-half. Experimental work has established a timeline of object individuation abilities and revealed some mechanisms underlying this ability, however, the influence of adult assistance during object exploration has not yet been explored. The current study investigates the effect of adult involvement during object exploration on infants' object individuation abilities. In Experiment 1a and 1b, we examined 9.5-month-old infants' colour-based object individuation following adult-assisted multisensory object exploration. Two components of adult interaction were of particular interest: facilitation of object manipulation (grasping, rotating, and attention-getting behaviours) and social engagement (smiling, pointing, attention-getting verbalizations, and object-directed gaze). Experiment 2a and 2b assessed these components with 4.5-month-olds to examine their impact across development. The results showed that after adult-guided object exploration, both 9.5- and 4.5-month-old infants successfully individuated previously undifferentiated objects. Results of Experiments 1b and 2b provide implications for the mechanisms underlying the scaffolding influence of adult interaction during infant behaviours.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kristin M. Johnson
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Rebecca J. Woods
- Department of Human Development and Family Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Bowman LC, Thorpe SG, Cannon EN, Fox NA. Action mechanisms for social cognition: behavioral and neural correlates of developing Theory of Mind. Dev Sci 2016; 20. [PMID: 27573916 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2014] [Accepted: 03/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Many psychological theories posit foundational links between two fundamental constructs: (1) our ability to produce, perceive, and represent action; and (2) our ability to understand the meaning and motivation behind the action (i.e. Theory of Mind; ToM). This position is contentious, however, and long-standing competing theories of social-cognitive development debate roles for basic action-processing in ToM. Developmental research is key to investigating these hypotheses, but whether individual differences in neural and behavioral measures of motor action relate to social-cognitive development is unknown. We examined 3- to 5-year-old children's (N = 26) EEG mu-desynchronization during production of object-directed action, and explored associations between mu-desynchronization and children's behavioral motor skills, behavioral action-representation abilities, and behavioral ToM. For children with high (but not low) mu-desynchronization, motor skill related to action-representation abilities, and action-representation mediated relations between motor skill and ToM. Results demonstrate novel foundational links between action-processing and ToM, suggesting that basic motor action may be a key mechanism for social-cognitive development, thus shedding light on the origins and emergence of higher social cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Samuel G Thorpe
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, USA
| | - Erin N Cannon
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, USA
| | - Nathan A Fox
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, USA
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Adam M, Reitenbach I, Papenmeier F, Gredebäck G, Elsner C, Elsner B. Goal saliency boosts infants’ action prediction for human manual actions, but not for mechanical claws. Infant Behav Dev 2016; 44:29-37. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2016.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2015] [Revised: 05/10/2016] [Accepted: 05/12/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
|
37
|
Csibra G, Hernik M, Mascaro O, Tatone D, Lengyel M. Statistical treatment of looking-time data. Dev Psychol 2016; 52:521-36. [PMID: 26845505 PMCID: PMC4817233 DOI: 10.1037/dev0000083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2015] [Revised: 10/08/2015] [Accepted: 10/20/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Looking times (LTs) are frequently measured in empirical research on infant cognition. We analyzed the statistical distribution of LTs across participants to develop recommendations for their treatment in infancy research. Our analyses focused on a common within-subject experimental design, in which longer looking to novel or unexpected stimuli is predicted. We analyzed data from 2 sources: an in-house set of LTs that included data from individual participants (47 experiments, 1,584 observations), and a representative set of published articles reporting group-level LT statistics (149 experiments from 33 articles). We established that LTs are log-normally distributed across participants, and therefore, should always be log-transformed before parametric statistical analyses. We estimated the typical size of significant effects in LT studies, which allowed us to make recommendations about setting sample sizes. We show how our estimate of the distribution of effect sizes of LT studies can be used to design experiments to be analyzed by Bayesian statistics, where the experimenter is required to determine in advance the predicted effect size rather than the sample size. We demonstrate the robustness of this method in both sets of LT experiments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gergely Csibra
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University
| | - Mikołaj Hernik
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University
| | - Olivier Mascaro
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University
| | - Denis Tatone
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University
| | - Máté Lengyel
- Computational and Biological Learning Lab, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Huber B, Tarasuik J, Antoniou MN, Garrett C, Bowe SJ, Kaufman J. Young children's transfer of learning from a touchscreen device. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
|
39
|
Upshaw MB, Bernier RA, Sommerville JA. Infants' grip strength predicts mu rhythm attenuation during observation of lifting actions with weighted blocks. Dev Sci 2016; 19:195-207. [PMID: 25939632 PMCID: PMC5839743 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2014] [Accepted: 02/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Research has established that the body is fundamentally involved in perception: bodily experience influences activation of the shared neural system underlying action perception and production during action observation, and bodily characteristics influence perception of the spatial environment. However, whether bodily characteristics influence action perception and its underlying neural system is unknown, particularly in early ontogeny. We measured grip strength in 12-month-old infants and investigated relations with mu rhythm attenuation, an electroencephalographic correlate of the neural system underlying action perception, during observation of lifting actions performed with differently weighted blocks. We found that infants with higher grip strength exhibited significant mu attenuation during observation of lifting actions, whereas infants with lower grip strength did not. Moreover, a progressively strong relation between grip strength and mu attenuation during observation of lifts was found with increased block weight. We propose that this relation is attributable to differences in infants' ability to recognize the effort associated with lifting objects of different weights, as a consequence of their developing strength. Together, our results extend the body's role in perception by demonstrating that bodily characteristics influence action perception by shaping the activation of its underlying neural system.
Collapse
|
40
|
Filippi CA, Woodward AL. Action Experience Changes Attention to Kinematic Cues. Front Psychol 2016; 7:19. [PMID: 26913012 PMCID: PMC4753290 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2015] [Accepted: 01/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The current study used remote corneal reflection eye-tracking to examine the relationship between motor experience and action anticipation in 13-months-old infants. To measure online anticipation of actions infants watched videos where the actor’s hand provided kinematic information (in its orientation) about the type of object that the actor was going to reach for. The actor’s hand orientation either matched the orientation of a rod (congruent cue) or did not match the orientation of the rod (incongruent cue). To examine relations between motor experience and action anticipation, we used a 2 (reach first vs. observe first) × 2 (congruent kinematic cue vs. incongruent kinematic cue) between-subjects design. We show that 13-months-old infants in the observe first condition spontaneously generate rapid online visual predictions to congruent hand orientation cues and do not visually anticipate when presented incongruent cues. We further demonstrate that the speed that these infants generate predictions to congruent motor cues is correlated with their own ability to pre-shape their hands. Finally, we demonstrate that following reaching experience, infants generate rapid predictions to both congruent and incongruent hand shape cues—suggesting that short-term experience changes attention to kinematics.
Collapse
|
41
|
Robson SJ, Kuhlmeier VA. Infants' Understanding of Object-Directed Action: An Interdisciplinary Synthesis. Front Psychol 2016; 7:111. [PMID: 26903918 PMCID: PMC4746616 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2015] [Accepted: 01/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recognizing that the object-directed actions of others are governed by goals and intentions is a crucial component of human interaction. These actions often occur rapidly and without explanation, yet we learn from and predict the actions of others with remarkable speed and accuracy, even during the first year of life. This review paper will serve as a bridge between several disparate literatures that, we suggest, can each contribute to our understanding of how infants interpret action. Specifically, we provide a review not just of research on infant goal attribution per se, but also incorporate findings from studies on the mirror neuron system and infant object cognition. The integration of these various research approaches allows for a novel construal of the extents and limits of early goal attribution – one in which the importance of the entire action context is considered – and points to specific future research directions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Scott J Robson
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University Kingston, ON, Canada
| | | |
Collapse
|
42
|
Upper extremity function: What's posture got to do with it? J Hand Ther 2016; 28:106-12; quiz 113. [PMID: 25840492 DOI: 10.1016/j.jht.2015.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2014] [Revised: 01/16/2015] [Accepted: 01/17/2015] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
This perspective paper reviews the linkage between developing postural control and upper extremity function. We suggest updated principles for guiding clinical practice, based on current views from motor learning, motor development, and motor control research. Using three clinical examples, we illustrate principles focusing on the use of variability, the importance of errors in learning movement, task specific exploration and practice, and the critical timing necessary to build skill of the upper extremity in a variety of postures. These principles differ from historic approaches in therapeutic exercise, which treated posture as a separate system and a precursor for extremity skill building. We maintain that current movement science supports the tight interaction of posture and upper extremity function through developmental time and in real time, such that one system cannot be considered separate from the other. Specific suggestions for clinical practice flow from the guiding principles outlined in this paper.
Collapse
|
43
|
Gampe A, Prinz W, Daum MM. Measuring action understanding: Relations between goal prediction and imitation. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2015; 34:53-65. [PMID: 26708448 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2014] [Revised: 06/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
We explored the developmental course of goal prediction and imitation as two commonly used measures of action understanding. In particular, we investigated the relationships between the measures in two complex multistep actions (hammering and pulling action) in children between 12 and 30 months (n = 64) in a between-subjects design. The results showed that the prediction of an action goal was related to the imitation in the hammering action, but not in the pulling action. The results are discussed in the light of current theories on goal prediction and imitation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anja Gampe
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,University of Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Wolfgang Prinz
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Moritz M Daum
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,University of Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Yoo KH, Cannon EN, Thorpe SG, Fox NA. Desynchronization in EEG during perception of means-end actions and relations with infants' grasping skill. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2015; 34:24-37. [PMID: 26381525 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2015] [Revised: 08/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The current study examined age-related differences in electroencephalogram (EEG) activity during perception of means-end actions and production of grasps, and how EEG activity may relate to infants' motor competence. We collected data from 9- and 12-month-old infants during perception of means-end actions made with a tool and during execution of their own grasps. We computed event-related desynchronization (ERD) during perception and production events and assessed infants' reach-grasp competence by looking at their latency to complete grasps. Although we found greater ERD during perception of means-end actions in 9-month-olds compared with 12-month-olds, we found the relation between ERD during perception and emerging reach-grasp competence to be specific for 12-month-olds and not for 9-month-olds. These results provide evidence for an emerging neural system that supports the coupling of action and perception with infants' emerging motor competence in the first year of life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn H Yoo
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Erin N Cannon
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Samuel G Thorpe
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Nathan A Fox
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Siu TSC, Cheung H. Emotional experience in music fosters 18-month-olds' emotion-action understanding: a training study. Dev Sci 2015; 19:933-946. [PMID: 26355193 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2014] [Accepted: 07/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
We examine whether emotional experiences induced via music-making promote infants' use of emotional cues to predict others' action. Fifteen-month-olds were randomly assigned to participate in interactive emotion training either with or without musical engagement for three months. Both groups were then re-tested with two violation-of-expectation paradigms respectively assessing their sensitivity to some expressive features in music and understanding of the link between emotion and behaviour in simple action sequences. The infants who had participated in music, but not those who had not, were surprised by music-face inconsistent displays and were able to interpret an agent's action as guided by her expressed emotion. The findings suggest a privileged role of musical experience in prompting infants to form emotional representations, which support their understanding of the association between affective states and action.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tik Sze Carrey Siu
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Him Cheung
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
| |
Collapse
|
46
|
Moser A, Zimmermann L, Dickerson K, Grenell A, Barr R, Gerhardstein P. They can interact, but can they learn? Toddlers’ transfer learning from touchscreens and television. J Exp Child Psychol 2015; 137:137-55. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2014] [Revised: 04/10/2015] [Accepted: 04/12/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
|
47
|
Boyer TW, Bertenthal BI. Infants' observation of others' actions: Brief movement-specific visual experience primes motor representations. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2015. [PMID: 26206276 DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Recent research suggests that infants' observation of others' reaching actions activates corresponding motor representations which develop with their motor experience. Contralateral reaching develops a few months later than ipsilateral reaching, and 9-month-old infants are less likely to map the observation of these reaches to their motor representations. The goal of the current study was to test whether a brief familiarization with contralateral reaching is sufficient to prime this less developed motor representation to increase the likelihood of its activation. In Experiment 1, infants were familiarized with contralateral reaching before they were tested in an observational version of the A-not-B paradigm. A significant number of infants searched incorrectly, suggesting that the observation of contralateral reaching primed their motor representations. In Experiment 2, infants were familiarized with ipsilateral reaching, which shared the goals but not the movements associated with the contralateral reaches observed during testing, and they did not show a search bias. Taken together, these results suggest that a brief familiarization with a movement-specific behaviour facilitates the direct matching of observed and executed actions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ty W Boyer
- Department of Psychology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA
| | - Bennett I Bertenthal
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
|
49
|
Gerson SA, Schiavio A, Timmers R, Hunnius S. Active Drumming Experience Increases Infants' Sensitivity to Audiovisual Synchrony during Observed Drumming Actions. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0130960. [PMID: 26111226 PMCID: PMC4482535 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2014] [Accepted: 05/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In the current study, we examined the role of active experience on sensitivity to multisensory synchrony in six-month-old infants in a musical context. In the first of two experiments, we trained infants to produce a novel multimodal effect (i.e., a drum beat) and assessed the effects of this training, relative to no training, on their later perception of the synchrony between audio and visual presentation of the drumming action. In a second experiment, we then contrasted this active experience with the observation of drumming in order to test whether observation of the audiovisual effect was as effective for sensitivity to multimodal synchrony as active experience. Our results indicated that active experience provided a unique benefit above and beyond observational experience, providing insights on the embodied roots of (early) music perception and cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A. Gerson
- University of St Andrews, School of Psychology & Neuroscience, St Andrews, United Kingdom
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Center for Cognition, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Andrea Schiavio
- Music Mind Machine in Sheffield, Department of Music, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Renee Timmers
- Music Mind Machine in Sheffield, Department of Music, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Sabine Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Center for Cognition, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Brand RJ, Escobar K, Baranès A, Albu A. Crawling Predicts Infants’ Understanding of Agents’ Navigation of Obstacles. INFANCY 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/infa.12084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Adrien Baranès
- Department of Neuroscience; Columbia University Medical Center
| | | |
Collapse
|