Young infants' awareness of object identity and number: Evaluating arithmetic reasoning, object file, and object tracking accounts.

Wynn（1992）提出了一个有争议的说法，即幼儿理解加法和减法，发现他们在数字错误的结果中观察的时间更长。虽然永利的有影响力的结果的替代解释已经提供，调查已经停止了短期的系统操作的相关因素需要确定一个适当的解释。这一建议的动机是迫切需要提供一个坚实的基础帐户的幼儿如何处理单个和多个对象遮挡事件。替代的解释包括对象文件帐户，虽然基于表征过程，并不假设一个符号的理解数。然而，它确实对韦恩任务的某些操作的结果做出了预测，但这些预测相互冲突。其次，一个较低层次的对象跟踪帐户作出具体的预测，对婴儿的反应，违反存在，特征的身份，和位置的物体在永利的task. It是通过不承担心理representation.It是吝啬的操纵永利的任务有可能回答关键问题，婴儿的对象跟踪，远远超出了永利的最初的问题。这项建议涉及一组23个5个月大的实验，作为对婴儿跟踪物体能力的系统调查。我们的主要措施将是婴儿的注视时间作为违反期望的指标。(The这个久经考验的测量方法的假设是，婴儿看违反他们预期的事件的时间更长。这将通过眼动追踪和瞳孔测量数据来补充，以调查婴儿是否会更多地注视违反其存在，特征身份或位置预期的物体。如果幼儿对某一特定的侵犯没有反应，则还将对一组年龄较大的婴儿进行实验，以寻找敏感性在发育过程中增加的证据。实验系列1和2将涉及单个物体，并将分别涉及数字运算0 + 1 = 1和1 - 1 = 0（见附件2的图形描述）。0 + 1实验开始时，一个空的载物台上的屏幕将旋转到垂直方向，一个物体将被引入并放置在屏幕后面。在违规试验中，屏幕将向下旋转以显示（i）没有对象，（ii）对象在错误的位置，（iii）不同的对象在正确的位置，或（iv）不同的对象在错误的位置。1 - 1实验将以存在的对象开始，屏幕将旋转以隐藏它，然后出现一只手并移除对象。在违规试验中，屏幕将向下旋转，以显示与0 + 1情况相同的违规类型之一。系列3和系列4直接与韦恩的工作有关，涉及两个对象，并涉及数值运算1 + 1 = 2（初始状态存在一个对象，屏幕旋转，于是添加第二个对象）和2 - 1 = 1（初始状态存在两个对象，屏幕旋转，于是删除一个对象）。在系列3和系列4中，我们将评估婴儿对第一个和第二个放置的物体的不同形式的违规行为的检测程度。在1 + 1的情况下，我们还将评估一个变体的性能，在该变体中，一旦屏幕旋转，两个对象都被添加，测试目标文件帐户的预测，即一个物体在遮挡前的位置感知导致一个更强的目标文件表示比一个看到消失在屏幕后面。我们预计，这些研究将提供一个重要的证据机构产生的系统变化的一个单一的程序。这应该澄清了文献中明显的矛盾，并将提供一个上级说明的过程，通过这些过程，幼儿保持跟踪多个对象。

Wynn (1992) made the controversial claim that young infants understand addition and subtraction, finding that they looked longer at events with numerically incorrect outcomes. Although alternative interpretations of Wynn's influential results have been offered, investigations have stopped short of the systematic manipulation of relevant factors needed to identify an appropriate interpretation. This proposal is motivated by the pressing need to provide a firmly based account of how young infants process single and multiple object occlusion events.Alternative explanations include the object file account, which although based on representational processes does not assume a symbolic understanding of number. It does, however, make predictions regarding the outcome of certain manipulations of Wynn's task, but these predictions conflict with each other. Secondly, a lower level object tracking account makes specific predictions regarding infants' responses to violations of existence, featural identity, and position of objects in Wynn's task, and is parsimonious through not assuming mental representation.It is apparent that manipulation of Wynn's task has potential to answer key questions regarding infants' object tracking that go well beyond Wynn's initial question. This proposal involves a core set of 23 experiments with 5-month-olds, as a systematic investigation of infants' ability to keep track of objects. Our main measure will be infants' looking time as an indicator of violation of expectation. (The assumption of this well tried measure is that infants look longer at events that violate their expectations.) This will be supplemented by eye-tracking and pupillometry data to investigate whether infants look more at an object that violates expectation regarding its existence, featural identity, or position. In cases where young infants do not respond to a particular violation, the experiments will also be run with a group of older infants to seek evidence for developmental increase in sensitivity.Experimental series 1 and 2 will involve a single object, and will involve the numerical operations 0 + 1 = 1 and 1 - 1 = 0, respectively (see Annexe 2 for a figural description). The 0 + 1 experiments will begin with an empty stage whereupon a screen will rotate to vertical, and an object will be introduced and placed behind the screen. On violation trials the screen will rotate down to reveal, (i) no object, (ii) the object in the wrong place, (iii) a different object in the right place, or (iv) a different object in the wrong place. The 1 - 1 Experiments will commence with an object present, the screen will rotate to hide it whereupon a hand will appear and remove the object. On violation trials, the screen will rotate down to reveal one of the same sorts of violation as in the 0 + 1 case. Series 3 and 4 relate directly to Wynn's work, involving two objects and concerning the numerical operations 1 + 1 = 2 (initial state one object present, screen rotates whereupon a second object is added) and 2 - 1 = 1 (initial state two objects present, screen is rotated whereupon one object is removed). In the case of series 3 and 4, we shall assess the degree to which infants detect different forms of violation applied to the first versus the second placed objects. In the 1 + 1 case we shall also assess performance on a variant in which both objects are added once the screen is rotated, to test the object file account prediction that an object perceived in position before occlusion leads to a stronger object file representation than one seen disappearing behind a screen.We anticipate that these studies will provide an important body of evidence arising from systematic variations of a single procedure. This should clarify apparent contradictions in the literature and will provide a superior account of the processes through which young infants keep track of multiple objects.