Motivation to Reach in Blind Infants

描述(由申请人提供)：众所周知，没有运动障碍的盲儿开始接触物体的时间比视力正常的婴儿晚一些(大约5个月后)。为何会是这样呢？这个问题的答案可能在于是什么诱使婴儿(无论是否视力受损)一开始就对物体起作用。这里提出的模型预测，婴儿自己对物体(首先是意外产生的，后来是故意产生的)行为的反馈对于将婴儿吸引到物体的世界至关重要。测试这一模型需要使用粘性手套，这是P.I.发明的一种设备，用于研究婴儿时期伸展到伸展的转变。在这项应用中，我们解释了如何使用带有连续声音物体的粘性手套可以a)确定自我产生的反馈对于早期到达是否重要，以及b)导致一种干预措施的发展，以帮助失明婴儿开始接触(和学习)物体，大约在有视力的婴儿的同一时间。这样的干预可能会对婴儿的认知发展和生活质量产生重大积极影响。 公共卫生相关性：这项研究解决了有关过渡到盲人和视力正常婴儿的概念和实践问题。拟议的实验旨在测试我们的理论，即为什么婴儿通常会过渡到新的运动功能水平：他们观察仍然不成熟和随意的运动技能的后果。如果这通常是引诱婴儿独立伸展的原因，这就解释了为什么盲人婴儿在有视力的婴儿几个月后才开始伸展，这表明为这些观察提供机会应该有助于婴儿更早地伸展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is well known that blind infants with no motor impairments begin reaching for objects somewhat later (on the order of 5 months later) than sighted infants. Why is this the case? The answer to this question may lie in what entices infants (whether visually impaired or not) to act on objects in the first place. The model proposed here predicts that feedback from infants' own actions on objects (first those produced accidentally, later those produced intentionally) is critically important for drawing infants into the world of objects. Testing this model involves the use of sticky mittens, a device invented by the P.I. to study the transition into reaching during infancy. In this application, we explain how using sticky mittens with continuously sounding objects can both a) determine whether self-produced feedback is important to early reaching, and b) lead to the development of an intervention to help blind infants begin reaching for (and learning from) objects around the same time that sighted infants do. Such an intervention could have major positive effects of the infants' cognitive development and quality of life. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This research addresses both conceptual and practical issues regarding the transition into reaching for blind and sighted infants. Proposed experiments are designed to test our theory about why infants typically make the transition into a new level of motor functioning: they observe the consequences of their still immature and haphazard motor skills. If this is what typically lures infants into independent reaching, it would explain why blind infants begin reaching several months after sighted infants do, and it would suggest that providing opportunities for these observations should help infants reach earlier.