Object representation guides infants' reaching in the dark.

Clifton, Rachel K.; Rochat, Philippe; Litovsky, Ruth Y.; Perris, Eve E.

doi:10.1037/0096-1523.17.2.323

Cited by 118 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…Within the first 6 months of life infants adjust their reaching and hand positions for effective grasping of objects. They recognize affordances of objects and tailor their actions accordingly (Clifton, Rochat, Litovsky, & Perris, 1991;Lockman, Ashmead, & Bushnell, 1984;McCarty, Clifton, Ashmead, Lee, & Goubet,, 2001;von Hofsten & Ronnqvist, 1988;von Hofsten & Fazel-Zandy, 1984). In addition, young infants detect the functional relation between object parts and surfaces and use objects in ways that are consistent with these relations (Bourgeois, Khawar, Neal, & Lockman, 2005;Gibson & Walker, 1984;Molina & Jouen, 1998;Palmer, 1989;Ruff, 1984).…”

Section: Increasing Infants' Sensitivity To Color By Making Color Funmentioning

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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Section: Increasing Infants' Sensitivity To Color By Making Color Funmentioning

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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“…Reaching can be more closely equated to facial imitation in the special cases in which the hand is obscured from the infant's view during reaching (Bower, 1982;Butterworth & Hopkins, 1988;Clifton, Muir, Ashmead, & Clarkson, 1993;Lasky, 1977;Rochat, Blass, & Hoffmeyer, 1988). There are particularly interesting parallels between memory-based facial imitation and reaching in the dark to a remembered object (Bower & Wishart, 1972;Clifton, Rochat, Litovsky, & Perris, 1991). In such studies, hand position cannot be monitored by vision (as in the case of facial movements), and infants must move an unseen body part to a remembered and currently invisible target (which makes it more parallel to the deferred imitation case).…”

Section: Motor Organization and Imitation Of Noveltymentioning

confidence: 99%

Imitation, memory, and the representation of persons

Meltzoff

Moore

1994

Infant Behavior and Development

439

143

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Imitation was tested both immediately and after a 24-hr retention interval in 6-week-old infants. The results showed immediate imitation, which replicates past research, and also imitation from memory, which is new. The latter finding implicates recall memory and establishes that 6-weekolds can generate actions on the basis of stored representations. The motor organization involved in imitation was investigated through a microanalysis of the matching response. Results revealed that infants gradually modified their behavior towards more accurate matches over successive trials. It is proposed that early imitation serves a social identity function. Infants are motivated to imitate after a 24-hr delay as a means of clarifying whether the person they see before them is the same one they previously encountered. They use the reenactment of a person's behavior to probe whether this is the same person. In the domain of inanimate objects, infants use physical manipulations (e.g., shaking) to perform this function. Imitation is to understanding people as physical manipulation is to understanding things. Motor imitation, the behavioral reenactment of things people do, is a primitive means of understanding and communicating with people. Keywordsimitation; memory; mental representation; faces; cross-modal; motor coordination; self; identity; communication; theory of mind; development Children learn by watching adults. Young children often do as parents do instead of as parents say, suggesting that visual models exert a powerful influence on children's actions. In infancy, before language, imitation plays an especially prominent role: It is an avenue for teaching motor skills and also embodies a mutuality and reciprocity that is the essence of communication at the nonverbal level. As apparently simple and commonplace as imitation is, it presents some of the deepest puzzles for theories of infancy. In order to imitate, the child must see the adult's actions, use this visual perception as a basis for an action plan, and execute the motor output. Thus, imitation taps perception, cross-modal coordination, and motor control. If imitation takes place after a significant delay, memory is also involved. The type of memory indexed by imitation is not merely recognition memory, because the infant is doing more than seeing a pattern as familiar or novel. The infant must generate an action on the basis of a memory, thus illustrating a primitive form of nonverbal recall memory (Mandler, 1990;Meltzoff, 1985Meltzoff, , 1988aMeltzoff, , 1990b.Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Andrew N. Meltzoff, Department of Psychology (WJ-10), University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptThe rich psychological web in which imitation is situated-learning, communication, perception-action links, memory, and representation-has made it an enduring topic in developmental psychology (Baldwin, 1906;Piaget, 1962) and an issue in philosophy of...

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“…Perception, motor skills, and cognition come together in a rich stew in tool use studies of problem solving. Early in my career I was taught and I believed that the best strategy for understanding development came from concentrating on these processes separately (Clifton 2002). The so-called whole child approach would lead nowhere.…”

Section: Tool Use: a Royal Road To The Study Of Problem Solvingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other studies provide strong hints that infants less than one year old might be using mental imagery. Clifton et al (1991) presented small (which elicited a onehanded grasp) and large (which elicited twohanded grasps) objects in the dark and found that 6-month-olds chose the appropriate grip configuration for the object's size. Prior to trials in the dark, the large and small objects were presented in the light, and each object had a unique sound that could identify the object when heard in the dark.…”

Section: Prospective Control Over Ongoing Activity Versus Planning Fumentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Problem Solving in Young Children: A Critical Cognitive Skill

Keen

2011

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

189

147

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Problem solving is a signature attribute of adult humans, but we need to understand how this develops in children. Tool use is proposed as an ideal way to study problem solving in children less than 3 years of age because overt manual action can reveal how the child plans to achieve a goal. Motor errors are as informative as successful actions. Research is reviewed on intentional actions, beginning with block play and progressing to picking up a spoon in different orientations, and finally retrieving objects with rakes and from inside tubes. Behavioral and kinematic measures of motor action are combined to show different facets of skill acquisition and mastery. We need to design environments that encourage and enhance problem solving from a young age. One goal of this review is to excite interest and spur new research on the beginnings of problem solving and its elaboration during development.

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Object representation guides infants' reaching in the dark.

Cited by 118 publications

References 16 publications

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

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

Imitation, memory, and the representation of persons

The Development of Problem Solving in Young Children: A Critical Cognitive Skill

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