Infant's Use of Intersensory Cues in Operant Learning

描述(申请人提供)：这项建议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的作用，确定这一作用的功能意义，并研究这一作用如何在发育过程中变化。为了开始这一过程，目前的提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)来影响对操纵性反应的学习和保持。为了实现这一点，将开发一种新的程序，将对物体的触觉探索与学习操作反应-腿部踢腿移动玩具移动-相结合。操作者反应的学习和保持将作为所持物体的形状(触觉信息)和移动物体的形状(视觉信息)之间的相似性的函数来评估。踢球速度和触觉探索的措施将作为依赖指标。我们将检验两个主要假设。首先，检测形状的跨通道对应是否有助于学习和/或保持操作性学习任务？第二，这种促进作用是否会依赖于年龄？感觉间的相互作用并不是一个统一的现象，已有大量与年龄相关的差异的报道。婴儿的行为反应取决于通信的类型、任务、涉及的方式和婴儿的发展水平。将对两个年龄段的婴儿(3个月和5个月大的婴儿)进行测试，以开始初步研究与年龄相关的差异。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的感觉间相互作用将有助于我们对正常发育的理解，并可能提供一种评估工具，以帮助检测生命的前半年的发育障碍。该项目将促进对人类婴儿基本学习过程的更多了解。从理解正常的婴儿学习中获得的知识将反过来帮助我们识别那些表现出学习延迟/不同模式的婴儿。在婴儿期而不是在儿童早期识别这种模式的能力，将允许对那些有发展性学习障碍风险的儿童进行更早的干预。

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.