Development of the psychological underpinnings of the perception of social agents

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Humans have complex psychological processes designed for detecting and attending to living things. Understanding the psychological processes that underpin the perception of animacy is prerequisite to understanding interactions between people. Understanding the development of these perceptual and attentional processes sheds light on the formation and malleability of our perception of and attention to others. Perhaps most fundamental is an understanding of how we discriminate animate and inanimate objects. those we interact with and those we do not. The purpose of this research program is to explore both adult functioning and the developmental trajectory of these psychological processes, and to compare these processes across groups with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Detection of and attention to animate entities are the foundation of all other interactions both developmentally and in real-time adult processing. This categorization happens early in visual processing and develops early in the lifespan. One study described here tests for evidence that infants attend to animate visual objects preferentially over other visual objects, and another tests which cues infants use in order to categorize motion as animate. Two studies explore animacy perception in adult observers: One tests whether the perception of animate objects is categorical, and the other compares processing between animate and inanimate categories. Two of the studies probe such perception in groups with autism spectrum disorders. The goals of this research program include 1) testing specific hypotheses about what visual cues draw infants' attention to animate objects, 2) testing whether infants attend to animate objects over inanimate objects, even when no objects are in motion, 3) testing adults' categorization of animate and inanimate objects and 4) testing whether the relationship between IQ and the perception of animacy is greater among those with ASD than among those without ASD. Humans have evolved specific, well-designed perceptual and attentional tools. The perception of animacy is foundational to all interactions. Together, these studies are designed to shed light on the human psychology underlying social perception. Benefits will be both basic and practical: Our basic understanding of these important psychological processes will be enhanced, and we will have a better understanding of the perceptual and attentional differences in those with ASD. Understanding the development of these processes in typical children and in those with ASD may allow us to better understand how social information is processed differently across these groups. The predicted association with IQ may shed light on how people with ASD solve social cognitive problems. This understanding will not only help teachers and parents better support the acquisition of social strategies, but it will help neurotypical people understand and interact with those with ASD in real time.