1
|
Adolph KE, Tamis-LeMonda CS. Self-recognition: From touching the body to knowing the self. Curr Biol 2024; 34:R239-R241. [PMID: 38531315 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/28/2024]
Abstract
Recognizing oneself in a mirror is a classic test of self-concept. A new study has revealed the perceptual-motor foundations of conceptual self-knowledge: infants' success in the mirror test was accelerated after touching a tactile stimulus while viewing themselves in a mirror.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 4 Washington Place, Room 410, New York, NY 10003, USA.
| | - Catherine S Tamis-LeMonda
- Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, 246 Greene Street, Room 410W, New York, NY 10003, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Chinn LK, Noonan CF, Patton KS, Lockman JJ. Tactile localization promotes infant self-recognition in the mirror-mark test. Curr Biol 2024; 34:1370-1375.e2. [PMID: 38442709 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.028] [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: 08/27/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024]
Abstract
Mirror self-recognition has been hailed by many as a milestone in the acquisition of self-awareness with respect to phylogenesis and human ontogenesis.1,2,3,4,5,6 Yet there has been considerable controversy over the extent to which species other than humans and their closest primate relatives are capable of mirror self-recognition, and to the mechanisms that give rise to this ability.1,7 One influential view is that mirror self-recognition in humans and their closest primate relatives is a cognitive advance that is a product of primate evolution, stemming from more recently evolved neural structures and networks that develop through experience-independent mechanisms during ontogenesis.1 In contrast, we show that the development of mirror self-recognition in human infants is a perception-action achievement, building on infants' ability to localize and reach to targets on the body. Infants who were given experience reaching to tactile targets on their bodies in the months prior to recognizing themselves in a mirror achieved mirror self-recognition earlier than infants in either a yoked age-matched control group or a longitudinal control group without such experience. Our results demonstrate that self-touch functions as an intermodal gateway through which infants learn how to localize and reach to stimuli on their bodies, including those that can only be seen in a mirror. These findings identify an overlooked role for the routine activity of self-touch in establishing a representation of the body and suggest that the development of human self-awareness is rooted in self-directed action.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lisa K Chinn
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 200 Broadway Street Suite 206, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA; Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics, University of Houston, Health 1, 4349 Martin Luther King Boulevard, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
| | - Claire F Noonan
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 200 Broadway Street Suite 206, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
| | - Katarina S Patton
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 200 Broadway Street Suite 206, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
| | - Jeffrey J Lockman
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 200 Broadway Street Suite 206, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA; Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 108 E. Dean Keeton Street, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Yang J, Ganea N, Kanazawa S, Yamaguchi MK, Bhattacharya J, Bremner AJ. Cortical signatures of visual body representation develop in human infancy. Sci Rep 2023; 13:14696. [PMID: 37679386 PMCID: PMC10484977 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41604-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Human infants cannot report their experiences, limiting what we can learn about their bodily awareness. However, visual cortical responses to the body, linked to visual awareness and selective attention in adults, can be easily measured in infants and provide a promising marker of bodily awareness in early life. We presented 4- and 8-month-old infants with a flickering (7.5 Hz) video of a hand being stroked and recorded steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs). In half of the trials, the infants also received tactile stroking synchronously with visual stroking. The 8-month-old, but not the 4-month-old infants, showed a significant enhancement of SSVEP responses when they received tactile stimulation concurrent with the visually observed stroking. Follow-up experiments showed that this enhancement did not occur when the visual hand was presented in an incompatible posture with the infant's own body or when the visual stimulus was a body-irrelevant video. Our findings provide a novel insight into the development of bodily self-awareness in the first year of life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jiale Yang
- School of Psychology, Chukyo University, Nagoya, Japan.
| | - Natasa Ganea
- Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - So Kanazawa
- Department of Psychology, Japan Women's University, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | | | - Andrew J Bremner
- Centre for Developmental Science, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Rigato S, Filippetti ML, de Klerk C. Infants' representations of the infant body in the first year of life: a preferential looking time study. Sci Rep 2023; 13:14091. [PMID: 37640931 PMCID: PMC10462757 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41235-w] [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: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/23/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Representing others' bodies is of fundamental importance for interacting with our environment, yet little is known about how body representations develop. Previous research suggests that infants have expectations about the typical structure of human bodies from relatively early in life, but that these expectations are dependent on how closely the stimuli resemble the bodies infants are exposed to in daily life. Yet, all previous studies used images of adult human bodies, and therefore it is unknown whether infants' representations of infant bodies follow a similar developmental trajectory. In this study we investigated whether infants have expectations about the relative size of infant body parts in a preferential looking study using typical and disproportional infant bodies. We recorded the looking behaviour of three groups of infants between 5 and 14 months of age while they watched images of upright and inverted infant bodies, typical and proportionally distorted, and also collected data on participants' locomotor abilities. Our results showed that infants of all ages looked equally at the typical and proportionally distorted infant body stimuli in both the upright and inverted conditions, and that their looking behaviour was unrelated to their locomotor skills. These findings suggest that infants may need additional visual experience with infant bodies to develop expectations about their typical proportions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Rigato
- Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK.
| | - Maria Laura Filippetti
- Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK
| | - Carina de Klerk
- Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Somogyi E, Hamilton M, Chinn LK, Jacquey L, Heed T, Hoffmann M, Lockman JJ, Fagard J, O'Regan JK. Tactile training facilitates infants' ability to reach to targets on the body. Child Dev 2023; 94:e154-e165. [PMID: 36651681 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
This longitudinal study investigated the effect of experience with tactile stimulation on infants' ability to reach to targets on the body, an important adaptive skill. Infants were provided weekly tactile stimulation on eight body locations from 4 to 8 months of age (N = 11), comparing their ability to reach to the body to infants in a control group who did not receive stimulation (N = 10). Infants who received stimulation were more likely to successfully reach targets on the body than controls by 7 months of age. These findings indicate that tactile stimulation facilitates the development of reaching to the body by allowing infants to explore the sensorimotor correlations emerging from the stimulation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eszter Somogyi
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS UMR 8002, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France.,Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| | - Mollie Hamilton
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS UMR 8002, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Lisa K Chinn
- Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Lisa Jacquey
- ULR 4072 - PSITEC - Psychologie : Interactions, Temps, Emotions, Cognition, University of Lille, Lille, France
| | - Tobias Heed
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Matej Hoffmann
- Department of Cybernetics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jeffrey J Lockman
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
| | - Jacqueline Fagard
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS UMR 8002, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - J Kevin O'Regan
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS UMR 8002, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
An integrative perspective on the role of touch in the development of intersubjectivity. Brain Cogn 2022; 163:105915. [PMID: 36162247 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2022.105915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Revised: 09/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Touch concerns a fundamental component of sociality. In this review, we examine the hypothesis that somatomotor development constitutes a crucial psychophysiological element in the ontogeny of intersubjectivity. An interdisciplinary perspective is provided on how the communication channel of touch contributes to the sense of self and extends to the social self. During gestation, the transformation of random movements into organized sequences of actions with sensory consequences parallels the development of the brain's functional architecture. Brain subsystems shaped by the coordinated activity of somatomotor circuits to support these first body-environment interactions are the first brain functional arrangements to develop. We propose that tactile self-referring behaviour during gestation constitutes a prototypic mode of interpersonal exchange that supports the subsequent development of intersubjective exchange. The reviewed research suggests that touch constitutes a pivotal bodily experience that in early stages builds and later filters self-other interactions. This view is corroborated by the fact that aberrant social-affective touch experiences appear fundamentally associated with attachment anomalies, interpersonal trauma, and personality disorders. Given the centrality of touch for the development of intersubjectivity and for psychopathological conditions in the social domain, dedicated research is urged to elucidate the role of touch in the evolution of subjective self-other coding.
Collapse
|
7
|
Kampis D, Grosse Wiesmann C, Koop S, Southgate V. Understanding the self in relation to others: Infants spontaneously map another's face to their own at 16-26 months. Dev Sci 2021; 25:e13197. [PMID: 34826359 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13197] [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: 03/17/2021] [Revised: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The current study probed whether infants understand themselves in relation to others. Infants aged 16-26 months (n = 102) saw their parent wearing a sticker on their forehead or cheek, depending on experimental condition, placed unwitnessed by the child. Infants then received a sticker themselves, and their spontaneous behavior was coded. Regardless of age, from 16 months, all infants who placed the sticker on their cheek or forehead, placed it on the location on their own face matching their parent's placement. This shows that infants as young as 16 months of age have an internal map of their face in relation to others that they can use to guide their behavior. Whether infants placed the sticker on the matching location was related to other measures associated with self-concept development (the use of their own name and mirror self-recognition), indicating that it may reflect a social aspect of children's developing self-concept, namely their understanding of themselves in relation and comparison to others. About half of the infants placed the sticker on themselves, while others put it elsewhere in the surrounding, indicating an additional motivational component to bring about on themselves the state, which they observed on their parent. Together, infants' placement of the sticker in our task suggests an ability to compare, and motivation to align, self and others.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dora Kampis
- Centre for Early Childhood Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark
| | - Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann
- Centre for Early Childhood Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark.,Minerva Fast Track Research Group Milestones for Early Cognitive Development, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sarah Koop
- Institute for Psychology, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Victoria Southgate
- Centre for Early Childhood Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Shen G, Weiss SM, Meltzoff AN, Allison ON, Marshall PJ. Exploring developmental changes in infant anticipation and perceptual processing: EEG responses to tactile stimulation. INFANCY 2021; 27:97-114. [PMID: 34617671 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2020] [Revised: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
There is an increasing interest in alpha-range rhythms in the electroencephalogram (EEG) in relation to perceptual and attentional processes. The infant mu rhythm has been extensively studied in the context of linkages between action observation and action production in infancy, but less is known about the mu rhythm in relation to cross-modal processes involving somatosensation. We investigated differences in mu responses to cued vibrotactile stimulation of the hand in two age groups of infants: From 6 to 7 months and 13 to 14 months. We were also interested in anticipatory neural responses in the alpha frequency range prior to tactile stimulation. Tactile stimulation of infants' left or right hand was preceded by an audiovisual cue signaling which hand would be stimulated. In response to the tactile stimulus, infants demonstrated significant mu desynchronization over the central areas contralateral to the hand stimulated, with higher mu peak frequency and greater contralateral mu desynchronization for older infants. Prior to the tactile stimulus, both age groups showed significant bilateral alpha desynchronization over frontocentral sites, which may be indicative of generalized anticipation of an upcoming stimulus. The findings highlight the potential of examining the sensorimotor mu rhythm in the context of infant attentional development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guannan Shen
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Staci M Weiss
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Andrew N Meltzoff
- Institute for Learning and Brain Science, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Olivia N Allison
- Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadephia, Philadephia, USA
| | - Peter J Marshall
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Maimon-Mor RO, Schone HR, Henderson Slater D, Faisal AA, Makin TR. Early life experience sets hard limits on motor learning as evidenced from artificial arm use. eLife 2021; 10:66320. [PMID: 34605407 PMCID: PMC8523152 DOI: 10.7554/elife.66320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2021] [Accepted: 10/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The study of artificial arms provides a unique opportunity to address long-standing questions on sensorimotor plasticity and development. Learning to use an artificial arm arguably depends on fundamental building blocks of body representation and would therefore be impacted by early life experience. We tested artificial arm motor-control in two adult populations with upper-limb deficiencies: a congenital group—individuals who were born with a partial arm, and an acquired group—who lost their arm following amputation in adulthood. Brain plasticity research teaches us that the earlier we train to acquire new skills (or use a new technology) the better we benefit from this practice as adults. Instead, we found that although the congenital group started using an artificial arm as toddlers, they produced increased error noise and directional errors when reaching to visual targets, relative to the acquired group who performed similarly to controls. However, the earlier an individual with a congenital limb difference was fitted with an artificial arm, the better their motor control was. Since we found no group differences when reaching without visual feedback, we suggest that the ability to perform efficient visual-based corrective movements is highly dependent on either biological or artificial arm experience at a very young age. Subsequently, opportunities for sensorimotor plasticity become more limited.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Roni O Maimon-Mor
- WIN Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Hunter R Schone
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom.,Laboratory of Brain & Cognition, NIMH, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, United States
| | | | - A Aldo Faisal
- Departments of Bioengineering and of Computing, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Tamar R Makin
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
de Klerk CCJM, Filippetti ML, Rigato S. The development of body representations: an associative learning account. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210070. [PMID: 33906399 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Representing one's own body is of fundamental importance to interact with our environment, yet little is known about how body representations develop. One account suggests that the ability to represent one's own body is present from birth and supports infants' ability to detect similarities between their own and others' bodies. However, in recent years evidence has been accumulating for alternative accounts that emphasize the role of multisensory experience obtained through acting and interacting with our own body in the development of body representations. Here, we review this evidence, and propose an integrative account that suggests that through experience, infants form multisensory associations that facilitate the development of body representations. This associative account provides a coherent explanation for previous developmental findings, and generates novel hypotheses for future research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carina C J M de Klerk
- Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
| | | | - Silvia Rigato
- Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Endre KMA, Landrø L, LeBlanc M, Gjersvik P, Lødrup Carlsen KC, Haugen G, Hedlin G, Jonassen CM, Nordlund B, Rudi K, Skjerven HO, Staff AC, Söderhäll C, Vettukattil R, Rehbinder EM. Diagnosing atopic dermatitis in infancy using established diagnostic criteria: a cohort study. Br J Dermatol 2021; 186:50-58. [PMID: 33511639 DOI: 10.1111/bjd.19831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Diagnosing atopic dermatitis (AD) in infants is challenging. OBJECTIVES To determine the incidence and persistence of eczema and AD in infants using the UK Working Party (UKWP) and Hanifin and Rajka (H&R) criteria. METHODS A cohort of 1834 infants was examined clinically at 3, 6 and 12 months of age. AD was diagnosed by UKWP (3, 6 and 12 months) and H&R (12 months) criteria. Logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between AD and eczema. RESULTS Eczema was observed in 628 (34·2%) infants (n = 240, n = 359 and n = 329 at 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively), with AD diagnosed in 212 (33·7%) infants with any eczema and in 64/78 (82%) infants with eczema at all three visits. The odds of AD were lower with first presentation of eczema at 6 [odds ratio (OR) 0·33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0·22-0·48] or 12 months (OR 0·49, 95% CI 0·32-0·74) than at 3 months, and higher in infants with eczema at three (OR 23·1, 95% CI 12·3-43·6) or two (OR 6·5, 95% CI 4·3-9·9) visits vs. one visit only. At 12 months, 156/329 (47·4%) fulfilled the UKWP and/or H&R criteria; 27 (8%) fulfilled the UKWP criteria only and 65 (20%) only the H&R criteria. Of the 129 infants who fulfilled the H&R criteria, 44 (34·1%) did not meet the itch criterion. CONCLUSIONS Used in combination and at multiple timepoints, the UKWP and H&R criteria for AD may be useful in clinical research but may have limited value in most other clinical settings.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- K M A Endre
- Department of Dermatology and Venerology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway
| | - L Landrø
- Department of Dermatology and Venerology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway
| | - M LeBlanc
- Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - P Gjersvik
- Department of Dermatology and Venerology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway
| | - K C Lødrup Carlsen
- University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway.,Division of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - G Haugen
- University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway.,Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - G Hedlin
- Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Women´s and Children´s Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - C M Jonassen
- Genetic Unit, Centre for Laboratory Medicine, Østfold Hospital Trust, Kalnes, Norway.,Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - B Nordlund
- Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Women´s and Children´s Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - K Rudi
- Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - H O Skjerven
- University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway.,Division of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - A C Staff
- University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway.,Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - C Söderhäll
- Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Women´s and Children´s Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - R Vettukattil
- University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway.,Division of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - E M Rehbinder
- Department of Dermatology and Venerology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Oslo, Norway
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Importance of body representations in social-cognitive development: New insights from infant brain science. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2020; 254:25-48. [PMID: 32859291 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
There is significant interest in the ways the human body, both one's own and that of others, is represented in the human brain. In this chapter we focus on body representations in infancy and synthesize relevant findings from both infant cognitive neuroscience and behavioral experiments. We review six experiments in infant neuroscience that have used novel EEG and MEG methods to explore infant neural body maps. We then consider results from behavioral studies of social imitation and examine what they contribute to our understanding of infant body representations at a psychological level. Finally, we interweave both neuroscience and behavioral lines of research to ground new theoretical claims about early infant social cognition. We propose, based on the evidence, that young infants can represent the bodily acts of others and their own bodily acts in commensurate terms. Infants initially recognize correspondences between self and other-they perceive that others are "like me" in terms of bodies and bodily actions. This capacity for registering and using self-other equivalence mappings has far-reaching implications for mechanisms of developmental change. Infants can learn about the affordances and powers of their own body by watching adults' actions and their causal consequences. Reciprocally, infants can enrich their understanding of other people's internal states by taking into account the way they themselves feel when they perform similar acts. The faces, bodies, and matching actions of people are imbued with unique meaning because they can be mapped to the infant's own body and behavior.
Collapse
|
13
|
Chinn LK, Noonan CF, Lockman JJ. The Human Face Becomes Mapped as a Sensorimotor Reaching Space During the First Year. Child Dev 2020; 92:760-773. [PMID: 32730689 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Although recent behavioral and neural research indicates that infants represent the body's structure, how they engage self-representations for action is little understood. This study addressed how the human face becomes a reaching space. Infants (N = 24; 2-11 months) were tested longitudinally approximately every 3 weeks on their ability to reach to a vibrating target placed at different locations on the face. Successful reaches required coordinating skin- and body-based codes for location, a problem known as tactile remapping. Findings suggest that a functional representation of the face is initially fragmented. Infants localized targets in the perioral region before other areas (ears/temples). Additionally, infants predominantly reached ipsilaterally to targets. Collectively, the findings illuminate how the face becomes an integrated sensorimotor space for self-reaching.
Collapse
|
14
|
Shen G, Meltzoff AN, Weiss SM, Marshall PJ. Body representation in infants: Categorical boundaries of body parts as assessed by somatosensory mismatch negativity. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2020; 44:100795. [PMID: 32716850 PMCID: PMC7303979 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2019] [Revised: 04/10/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
There is growing interest in developing and using novel measures to assess how the body is represented in human infancy. Various lines of evidence with adults and older children show that tactile perception is modulated by a high-level representation of the body. For instance, the distance between two points of tactile stimulation is perceived as being greater when these points cross a joint boundary than when they are within a body part, suggesting that the representation of the body is structured with joints acting as categorical boundaries between body parts. Investigating the developmental origins of this categorical effect has been constrained by infants’ inability to verbally report on the properties of tactile stimulation. Here we made novel use of an infant brain measure, the somatosensory mismatch negativity (sMMN), to explore categorical aspects of tactile body processing in infants aged 6–7 months. Amplitude of the sMMN elicited by tactile stimuli across the wrist boundary was significantly greater than for stimuli of equal distance that were within the boundary, suggesting a categorical effect in body processing in infants. We suggest that an early-appearing, structured representation of the body into ‘parts’ may play a role in mapping correspondences between self and other.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guannan Shen
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.
| | - Andrew N Meltzoff
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
| | - Staci M Weiss
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - Peter J Marshall
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 N. 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
|