Transitions in the temporal parameters of sensory preconditioning during infancy

Abstract

Sensory preconditioning (SPC) is a form of latent learning in which preexposure to co-occurring neutral stimuli (S1-S2) permits subsequent learning to be transferred from one stimulus (S1) to the other (S2). We examined whether human infants exhibit developmental transitions in the temporal parameters of SPC by manipulating the preexposure regimen. Infants received simultaneous or sequential preexposure to puppets S1 and S2 (Days 1–2); saw target actions modeled on S1 (Day 3); and were tested for deferred imitation with S2 (Day 4). Although 6-, 9-, and 12-month-olds associated the puppets, there was a shift in the effective regimen from simultaneous to sequential preexposure—similar to prior findings with rat pups (Experiment 1). Experiment 2 revealed that human infants potentially exhibit another transition in SPC at 15 and 18 months of age. We consider the roles of ontogenetic shifts in infants’ ecological niche, selective attention, and unitization in developmental transitions in SPC.

Developmental Autonomous Behavior: An Ethological Perspective to Understanding Machines

“…In SPC, CR arises in direct response to sensing NS2, which is preconditioned to CS (formerly NS1) in the sensory system, which triggers CR in anticipation of US. According to the recent research by Cuevas and Giles [134], the SPC mechanism was observed in human infants' anticipatory behavior and latent learning capabilities.…”

Ontogenesis of learning and memory: Biopsychosocial and dynamical systems perspectives

“…Interestingly, in both the SPC work described above and this memory binding paradigm, 12‐month‐olds failed to exhibit memory when co‐occurring stimuli were presented simultaneously during encoding. Thus, the superior relational memory performance of younger infants might also be related to overlapping changes in the demands of the infant's ecological niche (e.g., selective attention, independent locomotion) as noted in the context of SPC (Cuevas & Giles, ). Evidence of relational memory with sequential presentations of face–scene stimuli at 12, but not 6 months, as seen in SPC research, would support this notion.…”

“…Likewise, the frequency and timing of reminders or memory retrievals affect not only long-term memory duration, but also both the speed with which a forgotten memory is retrieved and the minimum duration of an effective reminder (Barr, Rovee-Collier, & Campanella, 2005;Bearce & Rovee-Collier, 2006;Hayne, 1990;Hayne, Gross, Hildreth, & Rovee-Collier, 2000). The hyperspecificity of early memory is also "overcome" by varied experience with focal cues or environmental surrounds, which can occur before or during initial learning or subsequent reminding after initial forgetting (Amabile & Rovee-Collier, 1991;Cuevas & Giles, 2016;Hitchcock & Rovee-Collier, 1996).…”

“…Developmental transitions have also been noted in the parameters that support sensory preconditioning (SPC) in both human infants and rat pups (Chen, Lariviere, Heyser, Spear, & Spear, ; Cuevas & Giles, ). SPC is an associative learning paradigm that permits organisms to transfer previous learning from one member of an associative network (A→R) to another (B→R), thus exponentially increasing the number of situations in which previous learning can be expressed at a point in ontogeny when learning is typically cue‐specific.…”

“…The associative chain is established by two stimuli co‐occurring in close spatial and/or temporal proximity (A‐B) without any external reinforcement, prior to subsequent learning or training with one of the stimuli (i.e., before A→R; preconditioning). Although human infants and preweanling rats associated two cues and transferred learning acquired via deferred imitation and classical conditioning, respectively, there was a shift in the effective SPC regimen from simultaneous to sequential preexposure (Chen et al, ; Cheslock, Varlinskaya, High, & Spear, ; Cuevas & Giles, ). Specifically, associations were formed only between neutral cues that were presented simultaneously in the youngest organisms (newborn pups and 6‐month‐olds); between both simultaneously and sequentially presented cues in 12‐day‐old pups and 9‐month‐olds; and only between sequentially presented cues in 21‐day‐old pups and 12‐month‐olds.…”