Visual Attention and Categorization in Infancy

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Categorization allows us to make sense of the world. Discovering how infants develop the ability to categorize is important for advancing scientific knowledge about early cognitive development. This project will analyze the rapid development of categorization that occurs in mid- to late-infancy. Multiple measures will be used to determine: (1) the effects of attention on categorization in early development, and (2) areas of the brain involved in categorization in infancy. This research will illuminate how attention influences infant categorization and will use neuroimaging to identify areas of the brain involved in categorization at different ages in infancy. This project will have broader impacts by providing insight into long-standing debates about the basic nature of categorization throughout the life-span and by providing many important training opportunities. Several graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in developmental cognitive neuroscience, which will increase the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Additionally, the research team will actively engage in community outreach to increase public scientific literacy and public engagement with science. This project has three major aims that will be addressed in two experiments on 6-, 9-, and 12-month-old infants. Aim 1 is to determine the effects of attention on infant categorization of faces and objects, using simultaneous measures of heart rate changes associated with attention and electroencephalogram (EEG) measures of attention and categorization. Aim 2 is to determine how learning conditions affect infant attention and categorization, by varying the learning conditions infants experience prior to EEG testing. Aim 3 is to determine which areas of the brain are involved in categorization in infancy, using computational modeling of EEG data. Infants are expected to show enhanced brain activity involved in categorization during attention, and areas of prefrontal cortex are expected to be involved in categorization only in older infants with more advanced categorization skills.