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| Twinkle, twinkle! (c) toysrus.com |
Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Align... High-Five! These are just some of the actions we tend to use in greeting children. How do we know when to meet that pointer finger or catch the high-five. We all go through that stage in our lives when we would transition from seeing mere patches of color and light to being able to protect ourselves from things going towards our direction. Also to the point when we are able to interact with each other. But this time, we focus on the perspective of babies and what are the inner workings of their developing brains that are in charge.
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| High-Five! Again and again and again! (c) http://makeagif.com/AYJL3F# |
Babies do not just eventually learn how to blink to perform the so-called "beautiful eyes" technique. Infants and adults alike, blink to protect themselves from objects one perceives to be approaching their face and hit them. Other counter-actions could be moving or tilting the head away from the unknown flying object. Also in feeding picky-eaters, they learn to gear away from the airplane or choo-choo train spoon.
A team of scientists from Norway focused on the study of the brain, in relation to its workings with people’s affect, behavior and cognition. In this featured study, they observed the development of babies’ abilities to perceive motion visually and the matching actions they take to ensure survival. They recorded eye, head and hand-reaching movements, supplemented with the measurement of electrical activity in different parts of the brain through the electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis (Agyei, van der Weel, van der Meer, 2016).
Meet the Team of Researchers
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(L-R)
Seth Bonsu Agyei
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Frederikus van der Meer
Cognitive Psychology
Audrey van der Meer
Developmental Neuropsychology
(c) loop.frontiersin.org |
It
was a three-part experiment. First, they tracked the gaze of the infants as
they followed the movement of the car animation. The younger infant, 4 months
old, rapidly followed the target focus. However, the 12 month old infant was
able to do the same task in a smoother manner, while gazing at the block where
the reappearance of the car is expected. This proves that the older infant is
able to exhibit prospective control. Second, they used looming stimuli, in the
form of a wheel with four colored circles inside, which had varying rotating
speed. The older full-term infants would react consistently, as they were able
to consider the speed of the rotations. On the other hand, the older pre-term
infants were observed to still focus on the visual angle because they reacted
more slowly to the slower rotation, even if all rotations filled the screen at
the same rate anyway. Third, they presented forward and backward optic flow and
random visual motion. Older and full-term infants had the quickest reaction
time to the forward optic flow. The maturity level caused those who are 11-12
months old to already manifest such ability (Agyei, et al., 2016).
The
brain also has different highways. The ventral or underside visual pathway is
responsible for object recognition (Milner & Goodale, 2008), answering the
question: “What?” With this, the dorsal or upper side visual pathway is
involved in direction and speed of motion (Creem & Proffitt, 2001),
clarifying “Where and how fast?”. The enthusiastic neurons play pass-the-message
in these routes. They also mentioned a tau-coupling theory -- taus can be
compared to building blocks of bridges, they bridge the motion gaps
Zhoom,
zhoom. It’s almost there! Blink, quickly blink!
In
blinking to avoid approaching objects, younger infants rely on visual angles,
which are dependent on the distance, while older infants use time strategy,
which provides better estimation of good timing to blink. The team highlighted
the affordance-based model, which gives premium on what the environment can
give the individual. The said model is also lifted from James Gibson’s
ecological theory.
They
explained that anticipatory gaze movements allow infants to reach moving
objects efficiently. The high-level interpretation of infants of the perceptual
information led them to begin the reaching action, in relation to the speed of
the toy (slow or quick). However, the team also noticed that infants who were
born preterm tend experience delays in development. Using distance-based cues, they
did not maximize time-based techniques. in gauging the time it will take for
the object to possibly hit him/her. Interestingly, the stage at which infants
begin to crawl is when they have better processing of colliding stimuli to perform
a prospective action.
We
have learned that the general perception process does not always end with acquisition of new knowledge and viewing of objects and scenes. Taking action
is also part of the cycle (Goldstein, 2014).
Being
born prematurely at seven months made me relate and interested in this topic. Moreover,
as I dream to become a preschool teacher someday, I think that the study
reiterates the importance of play in infants. Toy designers can consider the
findings of the study in creating not just enjoyable but also age-appropriate
ones that can maximize the skills that they are able to learn. Interventions
can also be developed for preterm infants to adjust with ease and keep pace.
Learning
about all these made me recall and appreciate the value in the Infant Development
Program of UP Child Development Center (UP CDC) handled by the Family Life and
Child Development Department of the College of Home Economics. It is undeniable
that the first year of a child is crucial in terms of these skills, but what is
amazing at the same time is that at a young age, they are able to naturally
cope with the existing perceptual mechanisms we share. The simplicity of a
child’s joy contrasts the complexity of these processes.
Visual
motion perception allows humans, as young as infants, to adapt to daily
activities. It ranges from the home, to the road, and in school or workplace. These
estimates and survival skills developed support the analysis by synthesis
model, particularly when one year old babies and older are able to apply their “sense of time” to
estimate how quick or how slow an object is approaching. They do not just focus on what is out there, they are able to link this with their prior knowledge of speed and time patterns. It may not be the conventional telling of time yet, but they are able to use their prior experiences in taking action in particular situations.
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| Chidlren's Bliss (c) own photo |
These techniques can also be applied in
playgrounds. Children are able to anticipate when to slow down in order to
avoid bumping into another playmate. In sports, players are able to utilize the
perceptual information in their hand-eye or foot-eye coordination. Moreover,
what’s fascinating to further explore is the interaction of all these
modalities.
Amidst the strong influence of the ecological theory that emphasizes on the effect of the environment on the individual. The researchers of the featured study concluded that what causes the movements and responses are both the natural capacities for our neural system to grow and the hands-on experiences we encounter. Indeed, it's a collaboration of nature and nurture!
The next time you see your baby siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews, try to observe how the wonders of visual motion perception help them interact and play with you!
What are the other ways young children exhibit visual motion perception and what are their reactions to it? Do you have a personal story that your relatives told you about that you did as a baby? Share your INFANTastic Discoveries with us in the comments section!
References:
Agyei S., van der Weel F. & van der Meer A. (2016). Development of Visual Motion
Perception for Prospective Control: Brain and Behavioral Studies in Infants. Frontiers in Psychology. 7:100. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00100
Golstein, E., (2014). Sensation and Perception. 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Cengage Learning.
