Visual Attention and Categorization in Infancy

分类使我们能够理解世界。发现婴儿是如何发展分类能力的，对于推进早期认知发展的科学知识很重要。这个项目将分析在婴儿期中后期发生的分类的快速发展。多项测量将用于确定：（1）注意力对早期发育中分类的影响，以及（2）婴儿期参与分类的大脑区域。这项研究将阐明注意力如何影响婴儿分类，并将使用神经成像来识别婴儿期不同年龄阶段参与分类的大脑区域。该项目将通过提供对关于整个生命周期分类的基本性质的长期辩论的深入了解和提供许多重要的培训机会，产生更广泛的影响。一些研究生和本科生将接受发展认知神经科学的培训，这将增加STEM领域代表性不足的群体的参与。此外，研究团队将积极参与社区外展活动，以提高公众的科学素养和公众对科学的参与。 该项目有三个主要目标，将在6个月、9个月和12个月大的婴儿身上进行两项实验。目的1是确定注意力对婴儿分类的面孔和物体的影响，同时使用与注意力和脑电图（EEG）的注意力和分类措施相关的心率变化的措施。目的2是确定学习条件如何影响婴儿的注意力和分类，通过改变婴儿的学习条件之前，脑电图测试的经验。目的3是确定哪些区域的大脑参与分类在婴儿期，使用EEG数据的计算建模。 婴儿在注意力集中的过程中，参与分类的大脑活动会增强，而前额叶皮层的区域只会在具有更高级分类技能的年龄较大的婴儿中参与分类。

Categorization allows us to make sense of the world. Discovering how infants develop the ability to categorize is important for advancing scientific knowledge about early cognitive development. This project will analyze the rapid development of categorization that occurs in mid- to late-infancy. Multiple measures will be used to determine: (1) the effects of attention on categorization in early development, and (2) areas of the brain involved in categorization in infancy. This research will illuminate how attention influences infant categorization and will use neuroimaging to identify areas of the brain involved in categorization at different ages in infancy. This project will have broader impacts by providing insight into long-standing debates about the basic nature of categorization throughout the life-span and by providing many important training opportunities. Several graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in developmental cognitive neuroscience, which will increase the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Additionally, the research team will actively engage in community outreach to increase public scientific literacy and public engagement with science. This project has three major aims that will be addressed in two experiments on 6-, 9-, and 12-month-old infants. Aim 1 is to determine the effects of attention on infant categorization of faces and objects, using simultaneous measures of heart rate changes associated with attention and electroencephalogram (EEG) measures of attention and categorization. Aim 2 is to determine how learning conditions affect infant attention and categorization, by varying the learning conditions infants experience prior to EEG testing. Aim 3 is to determine which areas of the brain are involved in categorization in infancy, using computational modeling of EEG data. Infants are expected to show enhanced brain activity involved in categorization during attention, and areas of prefrontal cortex are expected to be involved in categorization only in older infants with more advanced categorization skills.