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Published on: June 1, 2015
The Design and Development of Instrumented Toys for the Assessment of Infant Cognitive Flexibility
Vishal Ramanathan1, Mohammad Zaidi Ariffin1, Guo Dong Goh2
1Robotics Research Center, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
Insights
Researchers developed instrumented toys to objectively measure infant executive function (EF). This innovation offers a reliable and scalable method for collecting early developmental data, moving beyond time-consuming manual video analysis.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Infancy is a critical period for neurodevelopment and the emergence of executive function (EF).
- Current methods for measuring infant EF rely on manual video coding, which is time-consuming, subjective, and rater-dependent.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel instrumented toys for objective and scalable data collection on infant executive function.
- To create a new tool for assessing early cognitive development in interactive contexts.
Main Methods:
- Developed instrumented toys incorporating a barometer and inertial measurement unit (IMU).
- Utilized a 3D-printed lattice structure to embed sensors for detecting infant-toy interactions.
- Collected data on the sequence and patterns of toy interaction.
Main Results:
- The instrumented toys generated rich datasets detailing infant interaction sequences and patterns.
- Data inferred EF-relevant aspects of infant cognition.
- Demonstrated the potential for objective and reliable data collection.
Conclusions:
- Instrumented toys offer a promising objective, reliable, and scalable method for assessing infant executive function.
- This approach can enhance early developmental data collection in research and clinical settings.
- Facilitates the study of cognitive development during a sensitive neurodevelopmental period.
Abstract:
The first years of an infant's life represent a sensitive period for neurodevelopment where one can see the emergence of nascent forms of executive function (EF), which are required to support complex cognition. Few tests exist for measuring EF during infancy, and the available tests require painstaking manual coding of infant behaviour. In modern clinical and research practice, human coders collect data on EF performance by manually labelling video recordings of infant behaviour during toy or social interaction. Besides being extremely time-consuming, video annotation is known to be rater-dependent and subjective. To address these issues, starting from existing cognitive flexibility research protocols, we developed a set of instrumented toys to serve as a new type of task instrumentation and data collection tool suitable for infant use. A commercially available device comprising a barometer and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) embedded in a 3D-printed lattice structure was used to detect when and how the infant interacts with the toy. The data collected using the instrumented toys provided a rich dataset that described the sequence of toy interaction and individual toy interaction patterns, from which EF-relevant aspects of infant cognition can be inferred. Such a tool could provide an objective, reliable, and scalable method of collecting early developmental data in socially interactive contexts.
