Peri-hand space: A helping hand for faster object recognition in children

Visual processing is altered for stimuli located near the hands, in what is termed peri-hand space, but it is unclear whether peri-hand effects are stable across the lifespan. To investigate this, adults and 5- to 8-year-old children completed a naturalistic visual search task on a touchscreen monitor while wearing eye-tracking glasses. Upon recognizing a previously specified target image in a 12-image array, they released a pushbutton with their left index finger in order to reach out and touch the target. Participants completed the task twice, once with their right hand positioned on the monitor beside the visual array and once with their right hand positioned in their lap. Both children and adults were faster at recognizing the target when their right hand was near the array, but the magnitude of this peri-hand effect was greater in children than adults. The results are discussed in relation to the idea that object recognition may be facilitated within peri-hand space to a greater extent during childhood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).