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Assessing Sensorimotor Synchronisation in Toddlers Using the Lookit Online Experiment Platform and Automated Movement
Sinead Rocha1,2, Caspar Addyman3
1School of Psychology and Sport Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
This study introduces a novel, scalable digital method to assess sensorimotor synchronization in toddlers using drumming tasks. The findings show young children can adapt their movements to rhythmic cues, supporting this method
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Neuroscience
- Biomedical engineering
Background:
- Sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) is crucial for motor development and has a lengthy developmental course.
- Drumming tasks are effective for evaluating rhythmic entrainment in children, aiding in the identification of developmental differences.
- Existing methods for assessing SMS in infants can be resource-intensive and difficult to scale.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate a novel, scalable, fully digital protocol for measuring infant rhythmic movement and sensorimotor synchronization.
- To assess the feasibility of conducting infant rhythmic entrainment studies remotely in participants' homes.
- To investigate age-appropriate tempo-flexibility in toddlers' sensorimotor synchronization abilities.
Main Methods:
- Fifty two-year-olds participated in a remote study conducted via the Lookit online platform.
- Participants drummed along to audiovisual stimuli of isochronous rhythms (400–700 ms inter-onset intervals) and provided spontaneous motor tempo (SMT) data.
- The OpenPose deep-learning model analyzed video recordings to extract hand displacement, with Fast Fourier Transforms used to quantify rhythmic entrainment.
Main Results:
- The study successfully demonstrated the feasibility of a fully digital approach to measuring rhythmic entrainment in toddlers from their homes.
- Analysis revealed evidence of age-appropriate tempo-flexibility in the toddlers' sensorimotor synchronization.
- The protocol effectively quantified the power and frequency of rhythmic entrainment in young children.
Conclusions:
- A fully digital, home-based protocol using the Lookit platform and OpenPose is a feasible and scalable method for assessing sensorimotor synchronization in infants.
- This approach can facilitate large-scale studies on the development of rhythmic abilities and potentially identify atypical development early on.
- The findings support the developmental trajectory of sensorimotor synchronization, showing tempo-flexibility in two-year-olds.
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