The Development of Body Knowledge in Infancy

婴儿期身体知识的发展

• 批准号: 1121096
• 负责人: Ramesh Bhatt
• 金额: $ 43.28万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1121096&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; Body; Knowledge; Infancy

Bodies are highly significant social stimuli. Like faces, they convey a considerable amount of information about people, their emotions, and their intentions. Yet, while a great deal of research has addressed the early development of knowledge about faces, very little is known about the development of knowledge about bodies. The research supported by the award will address this issue by analyzing the nature of body knowledge development in infancy and the mechanisms that drive this development. Studies will examine when infants of different ages come to understand different aspects of bodies and faces, such as the parts they are composed of and the manner in which the parts are arranged and organized. This will be accomplished by analyzing how infants from 3 to 9 months of age react to systematic changes to body and face images, and by documenting which aspects of bodies and faces infants scan. A prominent theory suggests that body knowledge is minimal early in life, and proposes that body knowledge development is driven by information gained from the infant's own motor activities and from observing other people. The planned studies will test key predictions of this model. They will also indicate how the development of knowledge about bodies compares with the development of knowledge about faces. Moreover, studies supported by this grant will examine whether the development of body knowledge is driven by increasing tendency to focus on relevant information about people in the infant's environment.The proposed research will contribute to the understanding of cognitive and social development by establishing how knowledge about people develops early in life. A fuller accounting of the typical development of body knowledge in infancy has the potential to aid in early identification and treatment of individuals with developmental disorders, particularly Autism Spectrum Disorder, which is associated with deficits in social perception. In addition, a comprehensive understanding of development of basic cognitive abilities, including infants' knowledge of bodies and faces, is important for educating parents and caregivers about development. Moreover, the studies supported by the grant will enable several undergraduate and graduate students to receive training in psychological research.

身体是非常重要的社会刺激。就像面孔一样，它们传达了大量关于人的信息，他们的情绪，以及他们的意图。然而，虽然大量的研究已经解决了有关面部知识的早期发展，但对身体知识的发展知之甚少。该奖项支持的研究将通过分析婴儿期身体知识发展的性质以及推动这种发展的机制来解决这个问题。研究将检查不同年龄的婴儿何时开始理解身体和面部的不同方面，例如它们由哪些部分组成以及这些部分的排列和组织方式。这将通过分析3至9个月大的婴儿如何对身体和面部图像的系统变化做出反应，并通过记录婴儿扫描的身体和面部的哪些方面来实现。一个著名的理论认为，身体知识在生命早期是最小的，并提出身体知识的发展是由婴儿自己的运动活动和观察他人获得的信息驱动的。计划中的研究将测试该模型的关键预测。他们还将指出，如何发展的知识的机构与发展的知识的面孔相比。此外，该基金资助的研究将探讨身体知识的发展是否是由于越来越倾向于关注婴儿环境中有关人的相关信息。拟议的研究将通过确定有关人的知识如何在生命早期发展，促进对认知和社会发展的理解。对婴儿期身体知识的典型发展进行更全面的解释，有可能有助于早期识别和治疗患有发育障碍的个体，特别是自闭症谱系障碍，这与社会感知缺陷有关。此外，全面了解基本认知能力的发展，包括婴儿对身体和面孔的认识，对教育父母和照顾者了解发展也很重要。此外，赠款支持的研究将使几名本科生和研究生接受心理研究方面的培训。