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Published on: January 15, 2018
The effect of biomechanical properties of motion on infants' perception of goal-directed grasping actions
Elena Geangu1, Irene Senna2, Emanuela Croci2
1Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YF, UK.
Insights
Infants perceive goal-directed actions early on. Motor experience and biomechanical perception aid infants in predicting action goals, with 4-month-olds showing faster predictions linked to grasping skills.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Motor Control
Background:
- Infants perceive actions as goal-directed from an early age.
- The underlying processes of this perception are still under investigation.
- Understanding how infants process biomechanical properties of actions is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if infants and adults discriminate human hand biomechanics in action contexts.
- To determine if manipulating hand movement biomechanics affects action goal anticipation.
- To explore the relationship between grasping motor experience and infants' biomechanical discrimination and goal anticipation.
Main Methods:
- Comparing discrimination of biomechanically possible vs. impossible grasps in 4- and 6-month-old infants and adults.
- Analyzing anticipatory gaze shifts toward action goals based on movement biomechanics.
- Correlating infants' grasping skills with their ability to process biomechanics and anticipate action goals.
Main Results:
- Six-month-olds distinguished between possible and impossible grasps, showing more anticipatory gazes for possible actions.
- Both 4- and 6-month-olds' processing of hand biomechanics correlated with their ability to anticipate grasping action goals.
- Four-month-olds with advanced precision grasping skills exhibited quicker anticipatory gazes toward action goals.
Conclusions:
- Infant perception of actions integrates multiple information sources, including biomechanics and motor experience.
- Perceptual information and motor experience are interdependent for real-time prediction of action goals.
- Motor experience, specifically precision grasping, influences early action goal anticipation in infants.
Abstract:
From a very young age, infants perceive others' actions as goal directed. Yet, the processes underlying this competence are still debated. In this study, we investigated whether (a) 4- and 6-month-old infants and adults discriminate the biomechanical properties of the human hand within an action context, (b) the manipulation of the biomechanics of hand movements has an impact on the ability to anticipate the goal of an action, and (c) the emergence of motor experience with grasping is related to infants' ability to discriminate the biomechanics of hand movements and to anticipate the action goal. The 6-month-olds discriminated between biomechanically possible and impossible grasps, and in some (but not all) instances they made more anticipatory gaze shifts toward the goal of the possible action. Both the 4- and 6-month-olds' processing of biomechanical properties of the hand were significantly related to their ability to anticipate the goal of a grasping action. Importantly, those 4-month-olds with higher precision grasping skills manifested faster anticipatory gazes toward the goal of the action. These findings suggest that multiple sources of information from an action scene are interdependent and that both perceptual information and motor experience with an action are relevant for on-line prediction of the final goal of the action.
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