U.S.-Sweden Cooperative Research: The Early Development of Physical Knowledge

这个为期三年的奖项将支持康奈尔大学的Elizabeth S. Spelke和瑞典于默奥大学的Claes von Hofsten在认知心理学方面的美国-瑞典合作研究。研究者建议通过两组不同但平行的实验来研究物理物体运动知识的早期发展：一组使用物体识别的寻找方法（康奈尔大学），另一组使用预测到达方法（于默奥大学）。他们将调查婴儿对物体物理特性的知识和感知，如重力、惯性、连续性和坚固性。婴儿将看到一个完全可见或部分遮挡的移动物体，并相应地测量他们的反应。这项研究试图回答两个问题：婴儿对物质世界的认识是如何形成的，以及同样的知识是否通过视觉感知（看）或身体动作（够）来指导他们的推理。Spelke博士为这次合作带来了她在婴儿对物体和事件的物理特性的理解方面的广泛背景和工作。冯·霍夫斯滕博士在婴儿行动和感知/行动关系发展方面的专业知识补充了这一点。如果没有独特的设备来调查婴儿的对象导向接触，则无法进行拟议的实验，而这种设备仅在于默奥实验室可用。这项合作研究将推进认知心理学中两个更大的问题的认识：人类如何学习在物质世界中运作和理解。

This three-year award will support U.S.-Sweden cooperative research in cognitive psychology between Elizabeth S. Spelke of the University of Cornell and Claes von Hofsten of Umea University, Umea, Sweden. The investigators propose to study the early development of knowledge of motion of physical objects through two different, yet parallel sets of experiments: one using looking methods of object identification (Cornell) and the other utilizing predictive reaching methods (Umea). They will investigate infants' knowledge and perception of physical properties of objects such as gravity, inertia, continuity and solidity. Infants will be presented with a fully visible or partly occluded moving object and their responses measured accordingly. The research attempts to answer two questions: how infants' knowledge of the physical world is developed and whether the same knowledge guides their inferences either through visual perception (looking) or physical action (reaching). Dr. Spelke brings to this collaboration her extensive background and work on infants' understanding of physical properties of objects and events. This is complemented by Dr. von Hofsten's expertise in the development of action and perception/action relationships in infants. The proposed experiments could not be conducted without the unique equipment for investigating object-directed reaching in infants which is only available in the Umea laboratory. This cooperative research effort will advance knowledge of two larger issues in cognitive psychology: how humans learn to operate in and understand the physical world.