"Deprivation" and "Enrichment" in Infant Spatial Cognitive Development

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

The typical infant undergoes a psychological revolution between 7 and 9 months of age. There are so many changes involving numerous psychological functions, affecting domains so different from one another, and taking place within such a narrow time span that maturation has been postulated to account for the revolution. However, recent studies in the researcher's laboratory suggest a different interpretation. The onset of locomotor experience (such as crawling) is a potential determinant of many, if not most, of these changes. The proposed research will confirm or disconfirm the role of locomotor experience on a set of these changes. The proposed work has three goals. The first goal is to conduct a true experiment to examine the influence of locomotion. This study will randomly assign prelocomotor infants to conditions in which (a) such babies can control a powered-mobility device (PMD) to provide active locomotor experience, (b) babies receive passive locomotor experience in the PMD (no active control but otherwise have the same experience as those in the first group), and (c) a control group in which there is no locomotor experience, but rather fine motor training. The second goal is to test whether delays in locomotor experience linked to motor handicaps (in this case, infants with spina bifida) go along with delays in psychological development for the period of the delay in self-produced locomotion, followed by a spurt in functioning upon the delayed acquisition of locomotion. The third goal is to determine whether early crawlers, late crawlers, and normative-age crawlers differ or are the same in showing the psychological revolution mentioned before. Outcome assessments include tests for self-development (visual proprioception), memory for locations, joint visual attention, and concept formation. This research draws its significance from theoretical and practical implications. In behavioral science, the importance of self-movement as a cause of psychological change dates back to the work of Berkeley in 1709 and has continued in studies by other prominent researchers through the centuries. Despite its lengthy historical tradition, the effect of motor activity on psychological function has been controversial, being refuted, ignored, or given second place to exposure to sensory stimulation. The proposed research should provide findings crucial to clarifying the controversy over the relative contributions of self-produced movement (versus sensory exposure). The project also has clinical implications. First, it investigates a major understudied developmental disability (spina bifida). In addition, the project can confirm whether motoric delays negatively impact spatial cognitive skills in infants and children with motor impairments. An especially important long-term implication of the proposed work will depend on the outcome of the studies using the powered-mobility device. If the device proves successful in bringing about psychological changes in otherwise prelocomotor infants, it can be used to intervene and to provide "artificial" locomotor experience with positive psychological outcomes for infants with locomotor handicaps.