ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00973.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Five experiments using the visual preference method (Expt 1) and an infant‐controlled habituation procedure (Expts 2–5) are described. Their aim was to examine the salience of movement, both rotation and translation, as a stimulus for new‐borns, and to investigate under what conditions information about shape can be extracted from stationary and moving stimuli. A moving stimulus, whether rotating or translating, was found to be consistently preferred to an identical stationary stimulus (Expt 1). Following habituation to one direction of rotation, no novelty preferences were found for the other direction of rotation (Expt 2); this suggests that clockwise and anticlockwise movements may be comparable for the new‐born.The other experiments suggest that new‐borns can extract shape information from stationary and moving stimuli, and can transfer what is learned to moving and to stationary stimuli (Expts 3 and 5). This transfer occurred when (a) the spatiotemporal changes caused by stimulus rotation were the same from habituation to post‐criterion trials (Expt 3), and (b) orientation did not change (due to the use of translation movement) across conditions (Expt 5). There was no evidence that new‐borns could transfer learning from stationary to rotating stimuli or vice versa (Expt 4).This demonstrates that new‐borns can perceive a similarity between a stimulus when moving and when stationary, and suggests a degree of visual organization that is not usually attributed to the new‐born: Expt 5 in particular suggests that the perceptual potential for identity constancy is p

ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00974.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study explores the visual preferences of young infants for faces that differ with respect to their perceived attractiveness, as evaluated by adult raters. Black‐and‐white slides were presented to infants in 12 paired comparisons. Both 3‐month‐old (n= 26) and 6‐month‐old (n= 35) infants looked longer at the faces rated attractive. Pairs were constructed so that members of each pair were as similar as possible in gross physical appearance, differing only in rated attractiveness. The implications of an aesthetic sensitivity in such young infants are brief

ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00975.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Infra‐red corneal reflection techniques have been used for a number of years to assess infant pattern perception. The existing studies using this method have been interpreted as supporting the existence of a developmental trend in pattern scanning from narrow to more extensive pattern scanning over the first few months of life; these changes have been attributed to the development of cortical functioning. We discuss the possible sources of error in the use of these techniques with infants, and critically evaluate the conclusions that have been drawn from the existing studies. In addition to technical limitations in the early corneal reflection work, failure to take account of the infant's state of alertness may have caused younger infants to seem visually less capable than they really are. Based on this review of the existing literature and on a reanalysis of our data on scanning in early infancy (Hainline&Lemerise, 1982), we conclude that, at present, there are few data that unequivocally support the claimed developmental change in scanning extensiveness in early infanc

ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00976.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Object concept development was studied longitudinally in a group of 24 infants from 12 weeks until achievement of Stage 6. Infants were tested between 12 and 28 weeks on four visual tracking tasks: a simple, unoccluded tracking task and three others, each involving a different spatial relationship in mid‐track between the object and an occluder (a screen, tunnel, or platform). Competence on manual search tasks was monitored from the age at which reaching first appeared. Understanding of the same three spatial relationships between object and occluder (behind, in and on) was tested. Early exposure to the visual tracking tasks turned out to have a substantial accelerative effect on object concept development. Both the visual and manual data collected lend more support to a three‐advance identity model of object concept development than to the traditional six‐stage Piagetian

ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00977.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Three experiments are reported that examined infants' ability to use supports to retrieve objects that were visible or invisible, and covered or uncovered. Experiment 1* failed to confirm Frye's (1980) hypothesis that infants in Piaget's Stage 4 make search errors because they cannot adapt means‐ends coordinations. Infants given a search task made errors, but infants presented with an uncovered toy on a support adapted to a change of support with few errors. Experiment 2 showed that infants did make errors with supports if the toy was under an opaque cover, and an explanation was sought in Butterworth's (1977) claim that errors are produced by covering the toy, regardless of its visibility. Experiment 3 confirmed this proposal by showing that errors still occurred on the support task if the toy was under a transparent cover. These results replicated Butterworth's findings, and are interpreted as supporting his code conflict hypothesis. In particular, it is argued that certain features of the no‐cover support task help infants to coordinate egocentric and allocentric spatial codes and thus to avoid making err

ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00978.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study examined the development of visuo‐motor coordination with respect to flatness and to concavity/convexity. The results showed that infants do not reach for objects with their hands differentially according to their concavity /convexity until well after they are able to distinguish these characteristics visually. Younger babies did not begin to adjust the shape of their hands prior to touching stimulus surfaces. By 10 months all the children modified their hand shape appropriately to the surface shape prior to contacting it. Convex objects were approached adaptively earlier in development than concave objects. During the 6–9 months period, the establishment of coordination between visual and haptic perception enabled the latter to supply the former with significant informat

ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00979.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Whether or not babies understand the differences between people and things has been deemed crucial to psychological views of early development. However, only two studies have addressed this question empirically (Brazeltonet al., 1974; Fryeet al., 1983), neither of which reported statistically significant differences between the behaviours manifested by babies with a person and with a thing. Nevertheless, a number of psychologists assume in their theorizing that humans are born able to distinguish people from things (e.g. Trevarthen, 1974; Bruner, 1975). In this paper I describe a replication of the study reported by Brazeltonet al. Eight 10‐week‐olds were filmed for two minutesen facewith a graspable ball and 'chatting' with their mothers. Nine behaviours were coded. Results showed that babies opened their mouths and lowered their eyebrows significantly more and turned away significantly less with their mothers than with the ball. Further analysis showed that babies acted 'socially' in both conditions, suggesting that a 'sociable mood' may persist despite appropriate changes in infants' stimulus conditions. It is concluded that the ways in which infants experience their worlds cannot be generated by an inborn capacity to distinguish between people and thi

ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00980.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The development of four types of gesture (instrumental, expressive, enactive and deictic) was examined in relation to acts and vocalizations in two infants over the period when they were aged 10 to 21 months. Observations were made in their homes when they were playing and reading books with their mothers. The initial predominance of acts declined while gestures increased from 10 to 18 months. The gestural types differed in their time of emergence, frequency of use and the context in which they were used. Generally, there was a progressive increase in the coordination of gestures and vocalizations but differences were found in when and how often gestural types were accompanied by vocalizations. These vocalizations showed developmental changes from babbling and proto‐words to single and then multi‐word utterances. Initially, co‐occurring gesture and vocalization expressed the same meaning but as the two modes came to be used to express diverse meanings, more complex ideas were conveyed. During the period when the number and functional flexibility of the child's words are limited, gestures play an important role in enhancing communicative effectiveness. The establishment of an integrated, plurifunctional and increasingly conventional signalling system seems to provide a supportive framework for the acquisition of linguistic si

ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00981.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Sixty infants divided equally among three age groups (10, 16 and 24 weeks) participated in a contingency learning task. After an initial baseline period, half of the subjects received an audio‐visual stimulus contingent upon arm movement while the remaining infants, matched for age and sex, served as a control group. Session length was controlled by the infant and served as an index of task involvement. Amount of visual fixation per minute, fussing and frequency of smiling were also examined. There were consistent condition effects for each of the arm movement measures analysed but age and age × condition effects were obtained only for average rate and peak rate of response. With respect to affective measures, subjects in the contingent condition spent more time in the experiment irrespective of age and fussed proportionally less compared with control subjects. These subjects at 16 and 24 weeks also smiled more than non‐contingent controls at the same ages, although the overall rate of smiling was

ISSN:0261-510X    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1985.tb00982.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1985

数据来源: WILEY