Infant's Use of Intersensory Cues in Operant Learning

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的长期目标是研究感觉整合在人类婴儿学习和记忆过程中的作用，确定这一作用的功能意义，并检查这一作用如何在发育过程中发生变化。为了开始这一过程，目前的建议将研究人类婴儿如何使用关于物体形状的感觉间信息（视觉和触觉）来影响操作性反应的学习和保留。为了实现这一目标，将开发一种新的程序，将对物体的触觉探索与学习操作性反应（踢腿使玩具移动）结合起来。操作性反应的学习和保留将被评估为持有的物体形状（触觉信息）和移动物体形状（视觉信息）之间的相似性的函数。踢腿率和触觉探索的措施将作为依赖措施。两个主要假设将被检验。首先，检测形状的跨模态对应是否有助于学习和/或保留操作性学习任务？第二，这种便利是否与年龄有关？感官间的相互作用并不是一个单一的现象，许多与年龄相关的差异已经被报道。婴儿的行为反应取决于对应的类型、任务、涉及的模式和婴儿的发育水平。两个年龄组（3个月和5个月的婴儿）将被测试，以开始对年龄相关差异的初步研究。此外，建立这一程序作为一种有效和可靠的方法来检查婴儿期间的感觉间相互作用，将有助于我们对正常发育的理解，并有可能提供一种评估工具来帮助检测生命最初半年的发育障碍。这个项目将增进对人类婴儿基本学习过程的了解。在理解正常婴儿学习中获得的知识反过来将帮助我们识别那些表现出延迟/不同学习模式的婴儿。在婴儿期而不是幼儿期识别这些模式的能力，将允许对那些有发育性学习障碍风险的儿童进行早期干预。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of this proposal is to study the role intersensory integration plays in learning and memory processes in human infants, to determine the functional significance of this role, and examine how this role changes across development. To begin this process, the current proposal will examine how human infants use intersensory information (visual and haptic) about the shape of an object to influence learning and retention of an operant response. To accomplish this, a new procedure will be developed that combines haptic exploration of an object with learning an operant response-that leg kicks move a toy mobile. Learning and retention of the operant response will be assessed as a function of the similarity between the shape of the object held (haptic information) and the shape of the mobile objects (visual information). Kicking rates and measures of haptic exploration will serve as dependent measures. Two primary hypotheses will be tested. First, will detection of the cross-modal correspondence of shape facilitate learning and/or retention of an operant learning task? Second, will this facilitation be age-dependent? Intersensory interactions are not a unitary phenomenon and numerous age-related differences have been reported. Infants' behavioral responses depend on the type of correspondence, the task, the modalities involved, and the developmental level of the infant. Two age groups will be tested (3- and 5-month-old infants) to begin a preliminary study of age-related differences. In addition, establishment of this procedure as a valid and reliable method of examining intersensory interactions during infancy will aid our understanding of normal development as well as potentially providing an assessment tool to aid in the detection of developmental disabilities during the first half-year of life. This project will promote increased understanding of basic learning processes in human infants. The knowledge gained in understanding normal infant learning will help us, in turn, to identify those infants who show delayed/different patterns of learning. The ability to identify such patterns in infancy, rather than in early childhood, will allow for earlier intervention for those children at risk for developmental learning disabilities.