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间整合在人类婴儿学习和记忆过程中所发挥的作用，确定该作用的功能意义，并检查该作用在整个发育过程中如何变化。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持。为了实现这一点，一个新的程序将开发结合触觉探索的对象与学习操作性的反应，腿踢移动玩具移动的。操作性反应的学习和保持将被评估为所持物体的形状（触觉信息）和移动的物体的形状（视觉信息）之间的相似性的函数。踢率和触觉探索的措施将作为依赖措施。将检验两个主要假设。首先，将检测的跨模态对应的形状促进学习和/或保留的操作性学习任务？第二，这种促进作用是否取决于年龄？感官间的相互作用不是一个单一的现象，许多与年龄有关的差异已被报道。婴儿的行为反应取决于对应的类型、任务、所涉及的方式以及婴儿的发育水平。将对两个年龄组（3个月和5个月大的婴儿）进行测试，以开始对年龄相关差异进行初步研究。此外，建立这一程序作为一个有效的和可靠的方法，检查在婴儿期的感觉间的相互作用将有助于我们了解正常的发展，以及潜在的提供一个评估工具，以帮助在检测发育障碍的前半年的生活。该项目将促进对人类婴儿基本学习过程的了解。在理解正常婴儿学习过程中获得的知识将反过来帮助我们识别那些表现出延迟/不同学习模式的婴儿。如果能够在婴儿期而不是在幼儿期确定这种模式，就可以对有发展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.