Goal attribution to schematic animals: do 6-month-olds perceive biological motion as animate?
Anne Schlottmann1, Elizabeth Ray
1Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. a.schlottmann@ucl.ac.uk
Insights
Six-month-old infants attribute goals to animal-like motion. This suggests infants may interpret biological motion as animate, indicating early psychological reasoning abilities.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Infant Perception
Background:
- Infants demonstrate sensitivity to biological motion.
- A key question is whether infants perceive this motion as animate.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if 6-month-old infants attribute goals to shapes exhibiting animal-like motion.
- To determine if goal attribution is specific to the characteristics of biological motion.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments habituated 6-month-old infants to a square moving towards a target.
- Infants' reactions to switched target locations were observed.
- Motion stimuli varied in rigidity, rhythm, and deformation to mimic animate vs. inanimate movement.
Main Results:
- Infants showed greater reaction to a new goal than a new location, but only when the square's motion was non-rigid and rhythmic (schematic animal motion).
- Goal attribution was absent when motion was rigid or non-rigid but configured inanimately.
- This specificity indicates goal attribution is tied to perceived animacy.
Conclusions:
- Six-month-olds selectively attribute goals to schematic animal motion.
- Perception of schematic animal motion appears linked to psychological reasoning systems in infancy.
- Findings suggest infants may interpret biological motion as animate from 6 months of age.
Abstract:
Infants are sensitive to biological motion, but do they recognize it as animate? As a first step towards answering this question, two experiments investigated whether 6-month-olds selectively attribute goals to shapes moving like animals. We habituated infants to a square moving towards one of two targets. When target locations were switched, infants reacted more to movement towards a new goal than a new location - but only if the square moved non-rigidly and rhythmically, in a schematic version of bio-mechanical movement older observers describe as animal-like (Michotte, 1963). Goal attribution was specific to schematic animal motion: It did not occur if the square moved rigidly with the same rhythm as the animate stimulus, or if the square had the same amount of non-rigid deformation, but in an inanimate configuration. The data would seem to show that perception of schematic animal motion is linked to a system for psychological reasoning from infancy. This in turn suggests that 6-month-olds may already interpret biological motion as animate.
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