Infant's Use of Intersensory Cues in Operant Learning

婴儿在操作性学习中使用感官线索

• 批准号: 7305909
• 负责人: Kimberly Susan Kraebel
• 金额: $ 7.83万
• 依托单位: COLLEGE AT CORTLAND
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-08-16 至 2009-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7305909
• 关键词: Address; Adult; Age; Behavioral; Child; Cues; Data; Detection; Development; Developmental Disabilities; Early Intervention; Goals; Human; Infant; Knowledge; Learning; Learning Disabilities; Leg; Life; Literature; Measures; Memory; Methods; Modality; Pattern; Play; Pliability; Procedures; Process; Rate; Rattus; Reporting; Research; Risk; Role; Shapes; Testing; Time; Toy; Visual; age group; age related; animal data; early childhood; haptics; infancy; memory process; object shape; response; tool; visual information

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of this proposal is to study the role intersensory integration plays in learning and memory processes in human infants, to determine the functional significance of this role, and examine how this role changes across development. To begin this process, the current proposal will examine how human infants use intersensory information (visual and haptic) about the shape of an object to influence learning and retention of an operant response. To accomplish this, a new procedure will be developed that combines haptic exploration of an object with learning an operant response-that leg kicks move a toy mobile. Learning and retention of the operant response will be assessed as a function of the similarity between the shape of the object held (haptic information) and the shape of the mobile objects (visual information). Kicking rates and measures of haptic exploration will serve as dependent measures. Two primary hypotheses will be tested. First, will detection of the cross-modal correspondence of shape facilitate learning and/or retention of an operant learning task? Second, will this facilitation be age-dependent? Intersensory interactions are not a unitary phenomenon and numerous age-related differences have been reported. Infants' behavioral responses depend on the type of correspondence, the task, the modalities involved, and the developmental level of the infant. Two age groups will be tested (3- and 5-month-old infants) to begin a preliminary study of age-related differences. In addition, establishment of this procedure as a valid and reliable method of examining intersensory interactions during infancy will aid our understanding of normal development as well as potentially providing an assessment tool to aid in the detection of developmental disabilities during the first half-year of life. This project will promote increased understanding of basic learning processes in human infants. The knowledge gained in understanding normal infant learning will help us, in turn, to identify those infants who show delayed/different patterns of learning. The ability to identify such patterns in infancy, rather than in early childhood, will allow for earlier intervention for those children at risk for developmental learning disabilities.

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案的长期目标是研究感觉间整合在人类婴儿学习和记忆过程中的作用，确定该作用的功能意义，并研究该作用在发育过程中如何变化。为了开始这个过程，当前的提案将研究人类婴儿如何使用有关物体形状的感官信息（视觉和触觉）来影响操作反应的学习和保留。为了实现这一目标，将开发一种新程序，将物体的触觉探索与学习操作反应相结合——踢腿移动玩具车。操作反应的学习和保留将根据所持物体的形状（触觉信息）和移动物体的形状（视觉信息）之间的相似性进行评估。触觉探索的踢速和测量将作为依赖测量。将测试两个主要假设。首先，形状的跨模态对应的检测是否有助于学习和/或保留操作性学习任务？其次，这种便利是否取决于年龄？感觉间相互作用并不是一个单一的现象，并且已经报道了许多与年龄相关的差异。婴儿的行为反应取决于通信的类型、任务、所涉及的方式以及婴儿的发育水平。将测试两个年龄组（3 个月大和 5 个月大的婴儿），以开始对年龄相关差异的初步研究。此外，建立该程序作为检查婴儿期感觉间相互作用的有效且可靠的方法将有助于我们理解正常发育，并可能提供评估工具来帮助检测生命前半年的发育障碍。该项目将促进加深对人类婴儿基本学习过程的理解。在理解正常婴儿学习过程中获得的知识将有助于我们识别那些表现出延迟/不同学习模式的婴儿。在婴儿期而不是幼儿期识别这种模式的能力将有助于对那些有发展性学习障碍风险的儿童进行早期干预。