Development of Sequence Learning in Infants

人类婴儿如何感知时间中发生的事件？目前的项目通过研究序列学习来研究这个问题，序列学习是事件感知的关键技能。指导这个项目的理论假设是，随着发育的进展，婴儿变得能够学习越来越复杂的顺序关系。该项目的目标是确定婴儿在什么年龄能够学习特定形式的顺序复杂性。为了回答这个问题，研究者计划使用习惯化/测试程序以及视觉注意力的测量。婴儿首先习惯于由移动/发声物体、移动/无声物体组成的序列，或者只习惯于以特定顺序排列的声音。然后，他们进行测试试验，在此期间，序列分量的顺序发生变化，并测量他们检测这种变化的能力。研究人员希望通过这些实验来确定特定序列学习能力何时出现并在婴儿期得到改善，这些实验改变了（1）序列复杂性，（2）序列组件的特定顺序关系，以及（3）序列组件的特定性质（即，无论它们是视听的、视觉的还是听觉的）。随着婴儿的成长，他们将能够学习更复杂的顺序关系，他们将更少地依赖于他们在多种感觉模态中的冗余规范，并且他们能够将他们的学习概括为各种感觉模态。顺序学习是一种基本技能，涉及许多高级技能，如言语，语言，阅读，事件表征，社会互动，以及获得复杂的运动技能。因此，这个项目将提供关键的新见解的潜在发展基础的出现，许多更高层次的行为技能，儿童必须掌握，以适应功能。此外，通过仔细描述和绘制婴儿期序列学习技能的发展出现，目前的项目提供了发现是否未能发展与年龄相适应的行为技能的可能性，因为在许多类型的发展性学习和交流障碍的情况下，可能与未能发展基本的序列学习技能有关。

How do human infants perceive events that occur in time? The current project examines this question by studying sequence learning, a critical skill that underlies event perception. The theoretical assumption guiding this project is that as development progresses, infants become capable of learning increasingly more complex sequential relations. The goal of the project is to determine at what age infants become capable of learning particular forms of sequential complexity. To answer this question, the investigator plans to use a habituation/test procedure together with measures of visual attention. Infants are first habituated to sequences consisting either of moving/sounding objects, moving/silent objects, or only sounds arranged in a particular order. Then, they are given test trials during which the order of sequence components is changed and their ability to detect that change is measured. The investigator hopes to determine when specific sequence learning abilities emerge and improve during infancy through these experiments that vary (1) sequence complexity, (2) the particular ordinal relations of sequence components, and (3) the specific nature of sequence components (i.e., whether they are audiovisual, visual, or auditory). The predictions are, as infants grow, that they become capable of learning more complex sequential relations, that they come to depend less on their redundant specification in multiple sensory modalities, and that they are able to generalize their learning across sensory modalities.Sequence learning is a fundamental skill that is involved in many higher-level skills such as speech, language, reading, event representation, social interaction, and the acquisition of complex motor skills. As a result, this project will provide critical new insights into the underlying developmental foundation for the emergence of the many higher-level behavioral skills that children must master in order to function adaptively. In addition, by carefully characterizing and charting the developmental emergence of sequence learning skills in infancy, the current project offers the possibility of discovering whether the failure to develop age-appropriate behavioral skills, as is the case in many types of developmental learning and communication disorders, may be related to a failure to develop basic sequence learning skills.