Infant manual exploration of composite substrates

Fontenelle, Sarah A.; Kahrs, Björn Alexander; Neal, Stefanie; Newton, A. Taylor; Lockman, Jeffrey J.

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2007.07.001

Cited by 62 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In fact three weeks of enhanced postural training led to improved reaching, mouthing, and fingering of objects in 2- to 5-month-old TD infants (Lobo and Galloway, 2008). Moreover, object exploration skills have implications for other forms of development such as perceptual (Needham, 2000; Bhat and Galloway, 2006; Lobo and Galloway, 2008; Koterba et al, 2012), social communication (Meltzoff, 1995; Fagan and Iverson, 2007; Iverson et al, 2007), and cognitive development (Caruso, 1993; Bourgeois et al, 2005; Fontenelle et al, 2007). In terms of perceptual development, infants learn various object properties such as texture, shape, size, color, and sound while exploring objects (Ruff, 1984, 1986; Palmer, 1989; Rochat, 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atypical object exploration in infants at-risk for autism during the first year of lifer

2015

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder usually diagnosed by the end of the second year of life. Early signs of ASD within the first year of life are still unclear. The main purpose of the present study was to compare object exploration skills between infants at-risk for ASD and typically developing (TD) infants to determine early markers for autism within the first year of life. Sixteen at-risk infants and 16 TD infants were longitudinally followed from 6 to 15 months of age during an object exploration task involving three objects with distinct size, shape, and texture, i.e., a long rattle, a rigid circular ball, and a soft circular koosh ball. All sessions were videotaped for coding of manual exploration (grasping and dropping), oral exploration (mouthing), and visual exploration (looking). We also obtained follow-up outcomes using various developmental questionnaires at 18 months and email follow-up on developmental delays/ASD diagnosis after the infants’ second birthdays. Our results showed object-based differences in exploration patterns that extended across both groups. We also noticed context-dependent group differences for various exploratory behaviors across objects and ages. Specifically, at 6 months, at-risk infants showed less grasping of the rigid ball as well as less mouthing and greater looking at the rattle compared to TD infants. At 9 and 12 months, at-risk infants demonstrated significantly lower levels of purposeful dropping of all objects and greater looking at the rattle. Lastly, at 15 months, at-risk infants showed persistent mouthing of the rigid ball and rattle compared to TD infants. In addition, 10 out of 16 at-risk infants developed various motor, social, and language delays or ASD diagnosis at follow-up. Taken together, early context-dependent delays/abnormalities in object exploration could be markers for future developmental delays in infants at-risk for autism. Moreover, promoting early object experiences through socially embedded, free and structured play could have significant implications for multisystem development including perceptuo-motor, social communication, and cognitive development in at-risk infants.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atypical object exploration in infants at-risk for autism during the first year of lifer

2015

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“…Rhythmic movements involve for example repeated waving, scratching, petting, wiping, hitting (with or without another object), turning (e.g. to perceive objects from different perspectives), etc., and allow infants to discover the functioning of their own body, the structure of the world, and the potential effects of their actions on it [8,10,11,12]. Rhythmic movements are probably so important because, being repetitive, they allow infants to acquire multiple sample data needed to develop motor skills despite the high noise of early behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Importantly, the development of manipulation skills implies a gradual passage from random exploratory rhythmic movements to fu nctional movements that produce interesting, relevant, or useful effects on the environment. These functional movements can be either rhythmic or discrete [10,13,14]. The literature on the development of manipulation skills lacks in models and hypotheses to investigate and to frame mechanisms and processes that lead to the progressive development of rhythmic movements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this respect, the model shows how different object features (mainly size and shape) pose different challenges and require different computational resources to develop rhythmic movements to tackle them (in line with [10,11]). Moreover, the results show how the hierarchical architecture of the system gives rise to an effective emergent utilization of combinations of different CPGs depending on the complexity of the manipulation task at hand.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hierarchical reinforcement learning and central pattern generators for modeling the development of rhythmic manipulation skills

Ciancio

Zollo

Guglielmelli

et al. 2011

2011 IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL)

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The development of manipulation skills is a fundamental process for young primates as it leads them to acquire the capacity to modify the world to their advantage. As other motor skills, manipulation develops on the basis of motor babbling processes which are initially heavily based on the production of rhythmic movements. We propose a computational bio-inspired model to investigate the development of functional rhythmic hand skills from initially unstructured movements. The model is based on a hierarchical reinforcement-learning actor critic model that searches the parameters of a set of central pattern generators (CPGs) having different degrees of sophistication. The model is tested with a simulated robotic hand engaged in rotating bottle cap-like objects having different shape and size. The results show that the model is capable of developing skills based on different combinations of CPGs so as to suitably manipulate the different objects. Overall, the model shows to be a valuable tool for the study of the development of rhythmic manipulation skills in primates.

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“…For example, it could be shown that infants squeeze soft objects more than rigid ones or that they scratch objects more, when they are textured, when compared with non-textured objects (e.g. Bourgeois, Khawar, Neal, & Lockman, 2005;Bushnell & Boudreau, 1998;Fontanelle, Kahrs, Neal, Newton, & Lockman, 2007;Palmer, 1989;Rochat, 1987).…”

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confidence: 99%

Infants' use of material properties to guide their actions with differently weighted objects

Paulus¹,

Hauf²

2010

Infant and Child Development

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Two studies with 9-, 11-and 13-month-old infants were conducted to investigate infants' ability to use an object's material properties to guide their object-directed actions. In study 1, 9-and 11-month-old infants played in an exploration phase with two objects made of different materials, one very heavy and the other one light and playable. Subsequently, when given the choice between both objects in a preferential reaching task, only the 11-month-olds' used the object's material information to remember and choose the lighter object. In study 2, 11-and 13-monthold infants underwent the same exploration phase. In the test phase, novel objects made of the same materials were offered. The 13-but not the 11-month-olds chose the objects made from the same material as the lighter object in the exploration phase. Additionally, infants' performances in the reaching task were positively correlated with their exploratory behaviour during the exploration phase. Altogether, the studies show a developmental progression in the use of an object's material information to guide infants' action. The results are discussed in respect to infants' perception of object properties and their implications for the development of physical knowledge. Copyright r 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Key words: infancy; haptic perception; intuitive physics; action planning; conceptual development One important step in human development is to learn about the properties of the physical environment and how to use these to guide actions. Studies using the violation-of-expectation method and thus relying on visual processing have

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Infant manual exploration of composite substrates

Cited by 62 publications

References 29 publications

Atypical object exploration in infants at-risk for autism during the first year of lifer

Atypical object exploration in infants at-risk for autism during the first year of lifer

Hierarchical reinforcement learning and central pattern generators for modeling the development of rhythmic manipulation skills

Infants' use of material properties to guide their actions with differently weighted objects

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