Learning and memory facilitate predictive tracking in 4-month-olds

Johnson, Scott P.; Shuwairi, Sarah M.

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2008.02.004

Cited by 26 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Other work (Vishton, Ware, & Badger, 2005) has shown similar changes in sensitivity to certain Gestalt cues when the action task changes (e.g., from looking to object-directed reaching). In this regard, our findings can be linked with a range of empirical results demonstrating infant learning and transfer (Johnson & Shuwairi, 2009; Lany & Gomez, 2008; Needham, Dueker, & Lockhead, 2005; Wilcox & Chapa, 2004), as well as with dynamic systems and connectionist theory, which can readily accommodate situations in which changes in a single variable in a particular study can cause large changes in infants’ performance (e.g., Spencer, Thomas, & McClelland, in press). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Transfer and Scaffolding of Perceptual Grouping Occurs Across Organizing Principles in 3- to 7-Month-Old Infants

Quinn

Bhatt

2009

Psychol Sci

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Previous research has demonstrated that organizational principles become functional over different time courses of development: Lightness similarity is available at 3 months of age, but form similarity is not readily in evidence until 6 months of age. We investigated whether organization would transfer across principles and whether perceptual scaffolding can occur from an already functional principle to a not-yet-operational principle. Six-to 7-month-old infants (Experiment 1) and 3-to 4-month-old infants (Experiment 2) who were familiarized with arrays of elements organized by lightness similarity displayed a subsequent visual preference for a novel organization defined by form similarity. Results with the older infants demonstrate transfer in perceptual grouping: The organization defined by one grouping principle can direct a visual preference for a novel organization defined by a different grouping principle. Findings with the younger infants suggest that learning based on an already functional organizational process enables an organizational process that is not yet functional through perceptual scaffolding.The question of how human observers come to know which parts of an image belong together has been at issue in perceptual psychology since the early 1900s. Gestalt psychologists have argued that organization is an original sensory fact because infants come into the world with perceptual systems that are constrained to follow classic grouping principles, such as common movement, proximity, and similarity (Kohler, 1929). In contrast, Hebb (1949) argued that the development of perceptual organization would take considerable time because it depends on maturation of eye movements that yield holistic perceptions as visual scanning becomes more systematic. A more modern position is that, although some core principles are functional in the earliest months of life, other principles are learned by being bootstrapped onto the core principles (Spelke, 1982).Developmental research conducted over the last 15 years has been examining whether infants utilize both classic and modern grouping principles to organize a variety of visual displays (Quinn, Bhatt, & Hayden, 2008a). The studies have revealed that common region, connectedness, good continuation, lightness similarity, and proximity are functional at 3 to 4 months of age; in contrast, form similarity is not readily in evidence until 6 to 7 months of age. Taken together, the findings indicate that different grouping principles become functional over different time courses of development and that not all principles are readily deployed in the manner proposed by Gestalt psychologists. The findings on form similarity are also consistent with Spelke's (1982) view that learning may play a role in acquiring certain aspects of perceptual organization.Address correspondence to Paul C. Quinn, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, pquinn@udel.edu. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptPsychol Sci. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 Au...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Transfer and Scaffolding of Perceptual Grouping Occurs Across Organizing Principles in 3- to 7-Month-Old Infants

Quinn

Bhatt

2009

Psychol Sci

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“…An important question for future research is whether, and if so, how experience constrains the development of this interaction in occlusion situations. Johnson and colleagues (Johnson, Amso, & Slemmer, 2003;Johnson & Shuwairi, 2009), for instance, recently showed that infants as young as 4 months are able to learn to perform anticipatory eye movements from experiencing a few related visual events only. Can experience also accelerate development of anticipatory reaching?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anticipatory reaching of seven- to eleven-month-old infants in occlusion situations

Wermeskerken

Kamp

Velde

et al. 2011

Infant Behavior and Development

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a b s t r a c tThe present study examined 7-to 11-month-old infants' anticipatory and reactive reaching for temporarily occluded objects. Infants were presented with laterally approaching objects that moved at different velocities (10, 20, and 40 cm/s) in different occlusion situations (no-, 20 cm-, and 40 cm-occlusion), resulting in occlusion durations ranging between 0 and 4 s. Results show that except for object velocity and occlusion distance, occlusion duration was a critical constraint for infants' reaching behaviors. We found that the older infants reached more often, but that an increase in occlusion duration resulted in a decline in reaching frequency that was similar across age groups. Anticipatory reaching declined with increasing occlusion duration, but the adverse effects for longer occlusion durations diminished with age. It is concluded that with increasing age infants are able to retain and use information to guide reaching movements over longer periods of non-visibility, providing support for the graded representation hypothesis (Jonsson & von Hofsten, 2003) and the two-visual systems model (Milner & Goodale, 1995).

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“…Infants can learn across trials to make appropriate predictive eye movements when observing inanimate objects move [13][14][15], and evidence of this learning has been found before they are able to perform objectdirected reaches [14,16]. Alternatively, and in line with assumptions about mechanisms underlying predictive eye movements towards object-directed actions [1,2,17], the mirror system may play a role.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The time course of eye movements during action observation reflects sequence learning

Press

Kilner²

2013

NeuroReport

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When we observe object-directed actions such as grasping, we make predictive eye movements. However, eye movements are reactive when observing similar actions without objects. This reactivity may reflect a lack of attribution of intention to observed actors when they perform actions without 'goals'. Alternatively, it may simply signal that there is no cue present that has been predictive of the subsequent trajectory in the observer's experience. To test this hypothesis, the present study investigated how the time course of eye movements changes as a function of visual experience of predictable, but arbitrary, actions without objects. Participants observed a point-light display of a model performing sequential finger actions in a serial reaction time task. Eye movements became less reactive across blocks. In addition, participants who exhibited more predictive eye movements subsequently demonstrated greater learning when required either to execute, or to recognize, the sequence. No measures were influenced by whether participants had been instructed that the observed movements were human or lever generated. The present data indicate that eye movements when observing actions without objects reflect the extent to which the trajectory can be predicted through experience. The findings are discussed with reference to the implications for the mechanisms supporting perception of actions both with and without objects as well as those mediating inanimate object processing.

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Learning and memory facilitate predictive tracking in 4-month-olds

Cited by 26 publications

References 26 publications

Transfer and Scaffolding of Perceptual Grouping Occurs Across Organizing Principles in 3- to 7-Month-Old Infants

Transfer and Scaffolding of Perceptual Grouping Occurs Across Organizing Principles in 3- to 7-Month-Old Infants

Anticipatory reaching of seven- to eleven-month-old infants in occlusion situations

The time course of eye movements during action observation reflects sequence learning

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