A pick-me-up for infants’ exploratory skills: Early simulated experiences reaching for objects using ‘sticky mittens’ enhances young infants’ object exploration skills

Needham, Amy; Barrett, Tracy M.; Peterman, Karen

doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(02)00097-8

Cited by 312 publications

(323 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…We suggest that such findings reflect infants' ability to detect the goal structure of action following several minutes of intervention experience engaging in object-directed behavior, and to subsequently apply this knowledge to their perception of the actions of others. Thus, our findings add to the body of literature on rapid learning in young infants (Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996;Marcus, Vijayan, Bandi Rao, & Vishton, 1999;Kuhl, Tsao, & Liue, 2003), provide empirical support for the role of active experience in learning (Piaget, 1953), and add to the growing record documenting relations between agentive experience and other aspects of cognitive development in infancy (Needham et al, 2002;Eppler, 1995;Needham, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

“…These mittens were made of white fabric, with Velcro hook-and-loop fabric covering the palm, and were fashioned after those used by Needham, Barrett, and Peterman (2002). While wearing the mittens, the infants could easily make contact with and pick up the toys (which were covered with the corresponding side of the Velcro hook-and-loop fabric) by swiping or batting at them.…”

Section: Procedures and Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Action experience alters 3-month-old infants' perception of others' actions

2005

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An intervention facilitated 3-month-old infants' apprehension of objects either prior to (reach first), or after (watch first) viewing another person grasp similar objects in a visual habituation procedure. Action experience facilitated action perception: reach-first infants focused on the relation between the actor and her goal, but watch-first infants did not. Infants' sensitivity to the actor's goal was correlated with their engagement in object-directed contact with the toys. These findings indicate that infants can rapidly form goal-based action representations and suggest a developmental link between infants' goal directed actions and their ability to detect goals in the actions of others.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Procedures and Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Action experience alters 3-month-old infants' perception of others' actions

2005

Self Cite

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“…The color-function priming results join a growing body of literature demonstrating that infants can be led, through select experiences, to attend to information to which they typically do not attend (Baillargeon, 2004;Baillargeon & Wang, 2002;Needham, 2000;Needham et al, 2002;Wilcox et al, 2007). A closely related example is that of pattern-priming in younger infants.…”

Section: Other Examples Of Priming In Infantssupporting

confidence: 54%

“…One approach has been to identify experiences that can alter the type of information to which infants attend when interpreting physical events (Baillargeon, 2004;Needham, 2000;Needham, Barrett, & Peterman, 2002;Wilcox & Chapa, 2004;Wilcox, Woods, Chapa, & McCurry, 2007). For example, Needham (2000) documented manipulatory experiences that facilitate object segregation in 3.5-month-olds; identified experiences that facilitate 8-month-olds' use of height information when interpreting uncovering events; and Wilcox and her colleagues (Wilcox & Chapa, 2004;Wilcox et al, 2007) reported experiences that increase 4.5-to 10.5-month-olds' sensitivity to surface features in an object individuation task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Color–function categories that prime infants to use color information in an object individuation task

Wilcox

Woods

Chapa

2008

Cognitive Psychology

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There is evidence for developmental hierarchies in the type of information to which infants attend when reasoning about objects. Investigators have questioned the origin of these hierarchies and how infants come to identify new sources of information when reasoning about objects. The goal of the present experiments was to shed light on this debate by identifying conditions under which infants' sensitivity to color information, which is slow to emerge, could be enhanced in an object individuation task. The outcome of Experiment 1 confirmed and extended previous reports that 9.5-month-olds can be primed, through exposure to events in which the color of an object predicts its function, to attend to color differences in a subsequent individuation task. The outcomes of Experiments 2 to 4 revealed age-related changes in the nature of the representations that support color priming. This is exemplified by three main findings. First, the representations that are formed during the colorfunction events are relatively specific. That is, infants are primed to use the color difference seen in the color-function events to individuate objects in the test events, but not other color differences. Second, 9.5-month-olds can be led to form more abstract event representations, and then generalize to other colors in the test events if they are shown multiple pairs of colors in the color-function events. Third, slightly younger 9-month-olds also can be led to form more inclusive categories with multiple color pairs, but only when they are allowed to directly compare the exemplars in each color pair during the present events. These results shed light on the development of categorization abilities, cognitive mechanisms that support color-function priming, and the kinds of experiences that can increase infants' sensitivity to color information.

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“…Gibson, 1988;Gibson & Pick, 2000). For instance, Needham, Barrett, and Peterman (2002) demonstrated that providing pre-reaching infants with experience apprehending objects increased their visual exploration of objects. Developing action capabilities may lead to changes not only in the amount of visual attention that infants allocate to objects and events, but to the nature of this attention: infants who are highly skilled at object handling attend more to intermodal information than less skilled infants (Eppler, 1995).…”

Section: Processes Involved In Self-other Mappingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pulling out the intentional structure of action: the relation between action processing and action production in infancy

2005

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Adults and children readily construct action representations organized with respect to an ultimate goal. These representations allow one to predict the consequences of action, interpret and describe actions, and categorize action sequences. In this paper, we explore the ontogeny of hierarchically organized action representations, and its relation to infants' ability to produce similar sequences. To do so, we examine infants' perception and performance of a means-end sequence: pulling a cloth to retrieve a toy. Using a visual habituation paradigm, we demonstrate that 12-month-old infants understand that the initial step of the cloth-pulling sequence is directed toward the ultimate goal of attaining the toy, and use their knowledge of the causal constraints of the sequence to make this goal attribution. Ten-month-olds, however, appear transitional with respect to this understanding: their ability to identify the goal of the cloth-pulling sequence is related to their own ability to planfully solve a similar sequence. These findings are consistent with a burgeoning body of literature suggesting an intimate link between action production and perception, and suggest that this link is in place by at least 10 months of age. q

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A pick-me-up for infants’ exploratory skills: Early simulated experiences reaching for objects using ‘sticky mittens’ enhances young infants’ object exploration skills

Cited by 312 publications

References 38 publications

Action experience alters 3-month-old infants' perception of others' actions

Action experience alters 3-month-old infants' perception of others' actions

Color–function categories that prime infants to use color information in an object individuation task

Pulling out the intentional structure of action: the relation between action processing and action production in infancy

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