Motor Transitions in Infancy

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案中提出的问题代表了一种思考婴儿期运动过渡的新方法。这些实验并没有关注婴儿如何完成复杂的物理任务，而是探索他们为什么会这样做：是什么诱使婴儿首先对物体采取行动？我研究了三种可能的动机来源：目标驱动，目标驱动和自我驱动。实验研究了这三种来源的影响，并进一步研究了自我驱动因素的作用，假设婴儿自己对物体的动作（首先是意外产生的，后来是有意产生的）的反馈对于在适当的时候过渡到伸手的行为至关重要。这种反馈是强化的，有助于吸引婴儿与物体进行更多的互动。测试这个模型需要使用粘性连指手套，这是一种由P.I.来研究婴儿期如何过渡到伸手够东西的阶段。总的来说，这一建议在运动发育研究中开辟了新的天地，并提供了一个新的透镜，研究人员可以通过它来了解婴儿期的运动过渡。它还将提供明确的干预计划，帮助有视觉或运动障碍的婴儿开始比其他情况下更早地接触物体。公共卫生相关性：这项研究通过测试三种可能的想法来调查婴儿为什么开始伸手去拿物体的问题：婴儿对物体感到好奇，他们想模仿其他人，和/或他们从自己行为的后果中学习。如果我们了解了是什么促使发育中的婴儿去够东西，我们就可以设计干预措施来帮助发育中的婴儿比其他情况下更早地开始去够东西。婴儿越早对物体产生兴趣并开始自己伸手去拿，他们就能越多地了解物理世界。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The questions asked in this proposal represent a new way of thinking about motor transitions in infancy. Rather than focusing on how infants navigate the complicated physical tasks inherent to beginning to reach, these experiments explore why they do so: what entices infants to act on objects in the first place? I examine three possible sources of motivation: Object-driven, Other-driven, and Self-driven. Experiments investigate the influence of all three sources and go on to further investigate the role of self-driven factors, hypothesizing that feedback from infants' own actions on objects (first those produced accidentally, later those produced intentionally) is critically important for making the transition into reaching at the appropriate time. This feedback is reinforcing and helps draw infants into more interactions with objects. Testing this model involves the use of sticky mittens, a device invented by the P.I. to study the transition into reaching during infancy. Overall, this proposal breaks new ground in motor development research and offers a new lens through which researchers can understand motor transitions in infancy. It also will provide clear-cut plans for interventions that could help infants with visual or motor impairments begin reaching for objects earlier than they would otherwise. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research investigates the question of why infants begin reaching for objects by testing three possible ideas: infants are curious about objects, they want to imitate other people, and/or they learn from the consequences of their own actions. If we understand what motivates typically developing infants to reach for objects, we can design interventions to help atypically developing infants begin to reach earlier than they would otherwise. The earlier infants become interested in and begin reaching for objects on their own, the more they can learn about the physical world.