"Deprivation" and "Enrichment" in Infant Spatial Cognitive Development

典型的婴儿在7到9个月大的时候会经历一场心理革命。有如此多的变化涉及到无数的心理功能，影响着彼此不同的领域，发生在如此短的时间跨度内，以至于成熟被认为是革命的原因。然而，研究人员实验室最近的研究给出了不同的解释。运动经验（如爬行）的开始是许多（如果不是大多数的话）这些变化的潜在决定因素。拟议的研究将证实或不证实运动经验在一系列这些变化中的作用。拟议的工作有三个目标。第一个目标是进行一个真正的实验来检验运动的影响。本研究将随机分配运动能力前的婴儿，在以下条件下：(a)这些婴儿可以控制动力移动装置（PMD）提供主动运动体验，(b)婴儿在PMD中接受被动运动体验（没有主动控制，但其他方面与第一组相同），以及(c)对照组没有运动体验，而是精细运动训练。第二个目标是测试与运动障碍相关的运动经验延迟（在本例中为脊柱裂婴儿）是否伴随着自我产生的运动延迟期间的心理发育延迟，随后是在运动延迟获得后的功能突增。第三个目标是确定早期爬行者、晚期爬行者和正常年龄爬行者在显示前面提到的心理革命方面是不同还是相同。结果评估包括对自我发展（视觉本体感觉）、位置记忆、联合视觉注意和概念形成的测试。本研究具有理论意义和实践意义。在行为科学中，自我运动作为心理变化原因的重要性可以追溯到1709年伯克利的工作，并在其他杰出研究人员的研究中延续了几个世纪。尽管有悠久的历史传统，但运动活动对心理功能的影响一直存在争议，被反驳，被忽视，或被置于感官刺激之后。拟议的研究应该提供关键的发现，以澄清关于自我产生的运动（相对于感觉暴露）的相对贡献的争议。该项目还具有临床意义。首先，它调查了一个主要的未被充分研究的发育性残疾（脊柱裂）。此外，该项目可以确认运动延迟是否会对婴儿和运动障碍儿童的空间认知技能产生负面影响。拟议工作的一个特别重要的长期影响将取决于使用动力移动装置的研究结果。如果该装置被证明能够成功地为运动能力前的婴儿带来心理变化，那么它就可以用于干预，并为运动障碍婴儿提供具有积极心理结果的“人工”运动体验。

The typical infant undergoes a psychological revolution between 7 and 9 months of age. There are so many changes involving numerous psychological functions, affecting domains so different from one another, and taking place within such a narrow time span that maturation has been postulated to account for the revolution. However, recent studies in the researcher's laboratory suggest a different interpretation. The onset of locomotor experience (such as crawling) is a potential determinant of many, if not most, of these changes. The proposed research will confirm or disconfirm the role of locomotor experience on a set of these changes. The proposed work has three goals. The first goal is to conduct a true experiment to examine the influence of locomotion. This study will randomly assign prelocomotor infants to conditions in which (a) such babies can control a powered-mobility device (PMD) to provide active locomotor experience, (b) babies receive passive locomotor experience in the PMD (no active control but otherwise have the same experience as those in the first group), and (c) a control group in which there is no locomotor experience, but rather fine motor training. The second goal is to test whether delays in locomotor experience linked to motor handicaps (in this case, infants with spina bifida) go along with delays in psychological development for the period of the delay in self-produced locomotion, followed by a spurt in functioning upon the delayed acquisition of locomotion. The third goal is to determine whether early crawlers, late crawlers, and normative-age crawlers differ or are the same in showing the psychological revolution mentioned before. Outcome assessments include tests for self-development (visual proprioception), memory for locations, joint visual attention, and concept formation.This research draws its significance from theoretical and practical implications. In behavioral science, the importance of self-movement as a cause of psychological change dates back to the work of Berkeley in 1709 and has continued in studies by other prominent researchers through the centuries. Despite its lengthy historical tradition, the effect of motor activity on psychological function has been controversial, being refuted, ignored, or given second place to exposure to sensory stimulation. The proposed research should provide findings crucial to clarifying the controversy over the relative contributions of self-produced movement (versus sensory exposure). The project also has clinical implications. First, it investigates a major understudied developmental disability (spina bifida). In addition, the project can confirm whether motoric delays negatively impact spatial cognitive skills in infants and children with motor impairments. An especially important long-term implication of the proposed work will depend on the outcome of the studies using the powered-mobility device. If the device proves successful in bringing about psychological changes in otherwise prelocomotor infants, it can be used to intervene and to provide "artificial" locomotor experience with positive psychological outcomes for infants with locomotor handicaps.