Neural event segmentation of continuous experience in human infants.
Tristan S Yates1, Lena J Skalaban1, Cameron T Ellis2
1Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520.
Summary
Infant brains perceive continuous sensory input as longer, more stable events compared to adults. This suggests different temporal integration and precision in early development.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Understanding infant perception is crucial for cognitive development.
- Adults perceive continuous sensory input as discrete events.
- Infant event segmentation principles remain unclear due to simplified research tasks.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate infant event segmentation of continuous input.
- Compare infant and adult event segmentation using a data-driven approach.
- Analyze the timescale and organization of neural event representations.
Main Methods:
- Collected whole-brain functional MRI (fMRI) data from awake infants and adults.
- Utilized a hidden Markov model to identify neural event states.
- Quantified event existence, timescale, and organization across brain regions.
Main Results:
- Adult brains showed a hierarchical gradient of event timescales across regions.
- Infant brains represented only longer events without a timescale hierarchy.
- Infant event boundaries partially differed from adult neural and behavioral judgments.
Conclusions:
- Infant brains organize events with longer timescales and more stable neural patterns.
- This suggests greater temporal integration and reduced temporal precision in infants.
- Event perception differs significantly between infants and adults during dynamic naturalistic viewing.
