Spatial co-location and infants' learning of auditory-visual associations

Fenwick, Kimberley D.; Barbara, A Morrongiello

doi:10.1016/s0163-6383(98)90042-x

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Another group of studies present a seeming conflict with the reported findings. Fenwick and Morrongiello (), studying the ability to form associations between non‐spatial auditory and visual stimuli, found that 6‐month‐old infants were insensitive to a 10 cm spatial discrepancy between auditory and visual events. In contrast to adults, Fenwick and Morrongiello's 6‐month‐old participants still formed crossmodal associations at this degree of spatial separation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity to auditory‐tactile colocation in early infancy

Thomas

Misra

Akkunt

et al. 2017

Developmental Science

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An ability to detect the common location of multisensory stimulation is essential for us to perceive a coherent environment, to represent the interface between the body and the external world, and to act on sensory information. Regarding the tactile environment "at hand", we need to represent somatosensory stimuli impinging on the skin surface in the same spatial reference frame as distal stimuli, such as those transduced by vision and audition. Across two experiments we investigated whether 6- (n = 14; Experiment 1) and 4-month-old (n = 14; Experiment 2) infants were sensitive to the colocation of tactile and auditory signals delivered to the hands. We recorded infants' visual preferences for spatially congruent and incongruent auditory-tactile events delivered to their hands. At 6 months, infants looked longer toward incongruent stimuli, whilst at 4 months infants looked longer toward congruent stimuli. Thus, even from 4 months of age, infants are sensitive to the colocation of simultaneously presented auditory and tactile stimuli. We conclude that 4- and 6-month-old infants can represent auditory and tactile stimuli in a common spatial frame of reference. We explain the age-wise shift in infants' preferences from congruent to incongruent in terms of an increased preference for novel crossmodal spatial relations based on the accumulation of experience. A comparison of looking preferences across the congruent and incongruent conditions with a unisensory control condition indicates that the ability to perceive auditory-tactile colocation is based on a crossmodal rather than a supramodal spatial code by 6 months of age at least.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity to auditory‐tactile colocation in early infancy

Thomas

Misra

Akkunt

et al. 2017

Developmental Science

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“…Research on cross-modal perception in newborns and young infants has established an early coordination of hearing with other sense modalities ( Wertheimer, 1961 ; Turkewitz et al, 1966 ; Bower et al, 1970 ; Mendelson and Hath, 1976 ; Crassini and Broerse, 1980 ; Fenwick and Morrongiello, 1998 ; Morrongiello et al, 1998 ). Most developmental perception-action studies have employed parallel intermodal matching of auditory-visual relationships when investigating early infant behaviors ( Guihou and Vauclair, 2008 ).…”

Section: Auditory Stimuli and Body-behavior Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early influence of auditory stimuli on upper-limb movements in young human infants: an overview

Ferronato¹,

Domellöf

Rönnqvist

2014

Front. Psychol.

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Given that the auditory system is rather well developed at the end of the third trimester of pregnancy, it is likely that couplings between acoustics and motor activity can be integrated as early as at the beginning of postnatal life. The aim of the present mini-review was to summarize and discuss studies on early auditory-motor integration, focusing particularly on upper-limb movements (one of the most crucial means to interact with the environment) in association with auditory stimuli, to develop further understanding of their significance with regard to early infant development. Many studies have investigated the relationship between various infant behaviors (e.g., sucking, visual fixation, head turning) and auditory stimuli, and established that human infants can be observed displaying couplings between action and environmental sensory stimulation already from just after birth, clearly indicating a propensity for intentional behavior. Surprisingly few studies, however, have investigated the associations between upper-limb movements and different auditory stimuli in newborns and young infants, infants born at risk for developmental disorders/delays in particular. Findings from studies of early auditory-motor interaction support that the developing integration of sensory and motor systems is a fundamental part of the process guiding the development of goal-directed action in infancy, of great importance for continued motor, perceptual, and cognitive development. At-risk infants (e.g., those born preterm) may display increasing central auditory processing disorders, negatively affecting early sensory-motor integration, and resulting in long-term consequences on gesturing, language development, and social communication. Consequently, there is a need for more studies on such implications.

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“…After habituation, the infants heard either the same word or one of the four variations created by altering the fundamental frequency of the original sound by 7%, 14%, 21%, or 28%. The infants were most likely to orient to a stimulus that altered the fundamental frequency by 14% or 21% (moderate discrepancies) and less likely to orient to the more extreme alteration (Weiss, Zelazo, & Swain, 1988; see also Fenwick & Morrongiello, 1998; Saffran, Loman, & Robertson, 2000). Three‐week‐olds looked longer at 2 × 2 checkerboards than at 8 × 8 and 24 × 24 designs; 8‐week‐olds looked longest at 8 × 8 checkerboards; and 14‐week‐olds stared longest at the 24 × 24 forms (Brennan, Ames, & Moore, 1966).…”

Section: A Trio Of Influences On Lookingmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Defense of Qualitative Changes in Development

Kagan

2008

Child Development

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The balance between the preservation of early cognitive functions and serious transformations on these functions shifts across time. Piaget's writings, which favored transformations, are being replaced by writings that emphasize continuities between select cognitive functions of infants and older children. The claim that young infants possess elements present in the older child's concepts of number, physical impossibility, and object permanence is vulnerable to criticism because the inferences are based primarily on the single measure of change in looking time. It is suggested that investigators use unique constructs to describe phenomena observed in young infants that appear, on the surface, to resemble the psychological competences observed during later developmental stages.

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Spatial co-location and infants' learning of auditory-visual associations

Cited by 13 publications

References 20 publications

Sensitivity to auditory‐tactile colocation in early infancy

Sensitivity to auditory‐tactile colocation in early infancy

Early influence of auditory stimuli on upper-limb movements in young human infants: an overview

In Defense of Qualitative Changes in Development

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