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Published on: June 1, 2015
Infants prospectively control reaching based on the difficulty of future actions: To what extent can infants'
Janna M Gottwald1, Aurora De Bortoli Vizioli2, Marcus Lindskog1
1Uppsala Child & Baby Lab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University.
Insights
Fourteen-month-old infants demonstrate prospective motor control, adjusting their initial reaching movements based on the difficulty of the upcoming placing action. This indicates early planning abilities in young children.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Motor Control
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Prospective motor control is crucial for action planning, enabling anticipatory adjustments to task demands.
- Understanding the development of this ability in infants provides insights into early cognitive and motor development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if 14-month-old infants exhibit prospective motor control in a reach-to-place task.
- To determine if infants adjust reaching movements based on the anticipated difficulty of the subsequent placing action.
Main Methods:
- A reach-to-place task was employed, varying placing action difficulty via goal size and distance.
- Motion-tracking system recorded reaching movement kinematics, with peak velocity as an indicator of prospective control.
- Fitts' law was used to model movement times for both reaching and placing actions.
Main Results:
- Infants' prior reaching movements were affected by both goal size and distance, indicating anticipation of task difficulty.
- Smaller goal sizes and longer distances resulted in slower initial reaching movements.
- Fitts' law significantly modeled both reaching and placing movement times.
Conclusions:
- 14-month-old infants possess prospective motor control capabilities.
- Infants can plan future actions and prospectively adjust movements based on anticipated task demands and difficulties.
Abstract:
Prospective motor control, a key element of action planning, is the ability to adjust one's actions with respect to task demands and action goals in an anticipatory manner. The current study investigates whether 14-month-olds can prospectively control their reaching actions based on the difficulty of the subsequent action. We used a reach-to-place task, with difficulty of the placing action varied by goal size and goal distance. To target prospective motor control, we determined the kinematics of the prior reaching movements using a motion-tracking system. Peak velocity of the first movement unit of the reach served as indicator for prospective motor control. Both difficulty aspects (goal size and goal distance) affected prior reaching, suggesting that both these aspects of the subsequent action have an impact on the prior action. The smaller the goal size and the longer the distance to the goal, the slower infants were in the beginning of their reach toward the object. Additionally, we modeled movement times of both reaching and placing actions using a formulation of Fitts' law (as in heading). The model was significant for placement and reaching movement times. These findings suggest that 14-month-olds can plan their future actions and prospectively control their related movements with respect to future task difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record
