Motivation to Reach in Blind Infants

描述（由申请人提供）：众所周知，没有运动障碍的失明婴儿开始接触物体的时间比视力正常的婴儿晚一些（大约晚5个月）。为什么会这样呢？这个问题的答案可能在于，是什么诱使婴儿（无论视力受损与否）首先对物体采取行动。这里提出的模型预测，婴儿自己对物体的动作反馈（首先是那些偶然产生的，后来是那些有意产生的）对于吸引婴儿进入物体世界至关重要。测试这个模型需要使用粘性连指手套，这是P.I.发明的一种设备，用于研究婴儿期向伸手的过渡。在这个应用中，我们解释了如何使用带有连续发声物体的粘性连指手套，a)确定自我产生的反馈对早期接触是否重要，b)导致干预的发展，以帮助失明婴儿在同一时间开始接触（并学习）物体。这样的干预可能对婴儿的认知发展和生活质量产生重大的积极影响。

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.