Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

1.2K
The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...
1.2K
The Nativist Approach01:21

The Nativist Approach

255
The nativist approach to infant cognitive development proposes that infants are born with inherent knowledge structures that allow them to interpret the world almost immediately. This perspective contrasts with earlier developmental theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, which emphasized a more gradual acquisition of cognitive abilities through interaction with the environment. One key concept in this approach is object permanence — the understanding that objects continue to...
255
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

645
The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by...
645
Socioemotional Development during Infancy01:30

Socioemotional Development during Infancy

247
Socio-emotional development in infancy is primarily shaped by early emotional responses and social connections, with temperament playing a central role. Temperament refers to the consistent patterns in an individual's emotional and behavioral responses, observable even in infancy. By examining temperament, researchers can better understand an infant's unique ways of interacting with the world, influencing subsequent personality and socio-emotional growth.
Primary Temperament Types
247
Language Development01:22

Language Development

644
Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
644
Perception of Sound Waves01:01

Perception of Sound Waves

5.1K
The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same...
5.1K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Neural correlates of innate preference for upward motion.

iScience·2026
Same author

Reduced platelet formation associated with serine metabolic dysregulation in integrin αIIbβ3-deficient megakaryocytes.

Blood·2026
Same author

Stimuli that fit: a biology-aligned approach to numerical cognition research.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2026
Same author

Editorial: Processing of face and other animacy cues in the brain.

Frontiers in psychology·2026
Same author

Bouba-kiki, baby chicks, and the structure of experience.

Journal of experimental psychology. Animal learning and cognition·2026
Same author

Antlion larvae follow optimality rules in body orientation during sand tossing.

The Journal of experimental biology·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 21, 2025

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
06:34

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Published on: July 1, 2015

16.7K

Newborns' sensitivity to speed changes as a building block for animacy perception.

Elisa Di Giorgio1, Marco Lunghi2, Giorgio Vallortigara3

  • 1Dipartimento Di Psicologia Dello Sviluppo E Della Socializzazione, Università Degli Studi Di Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131, Padua, PD, Italy. elisa.digiorgio@unipd.it.

Scientific Reports
|January 13, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Newborns show attentional bias towards objects with specific speed changes, indicating early visual processing of motion cues. This suggests innate mechanisms for perceiving animate-like motion.

More Related Videos

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

8.8K
Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task
11:18

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task

Published on: June 1, 2015

10.9K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Nov 21, 2025

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
06:34

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Published on: July 1, 2015

16.7K
Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

8.8K
Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task
11:18

Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task

Published on: June 1, 2015

10.9K

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Cognitive neuroscience
  • Visual perception

Background:

  • Human visual system distinguishes animate from inanimate objects using kinematic cues like self-propulsion and speed changes.
  • The developmental origins of this capability in infants are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether newborns exhibit an attentional bias towards objects with specific patterns of speed changes.
  • To determine if newborns prefer objects that change speed abruptly over those with constant velocity.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic manipulation of object motion speed, contrasting constant speed with sudden increases or decreases.
  • Presentation of single speed changes (increase/decrease) and combined speed change sequences (increase then decrease, or vice versa) to newborns.
  • Observation of visual preference in newborns when presented with different motion patterns.

Main Results:

  • Newborns did not show a visual preference when presented with a single speed change (increase or decrease).
  • Newborns preferred objects that abruptly increased and then decreased speed.
  • No visual preference was observed for the reverse sequence (decrease then increase in speed).

Conclusions:

  • Newborns possess attentional biases for specific visual motion cues indicative of animate perception.
  • These findings suggest an innate predisposition to attend to motion patterns that mimic self-propelled movement.
  • The results support the hypothesis of early-developing attentional mechanisms guiding infants' perception of animacy.