Collaborative Research: Action, Learning, and Social Cognition

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The ability to understand other people's goals and intentions is critical for social competence. A key component of this is interpreting the reasons for others' actions. Infants appear to be able to determine others' goals based on observing others' actions early in life, and this sensitivity to others' goals is associated with developments in infants' own ability to perform goal-based actions. The purpose of this project is to investigate the neural and cognitive systems that support infants' emerging sensitivity to goal-based actions in themselves and others. This work will shed new light on how neurocognitive development supports early social cognition. The proposed studies will record electroencephalogram (EEG), a technique for recording the brain's electrical activity, while 8- to 10-month-old infants perform actions on objects, when they perform joint actions with others, and when they observe others' actions. A first goal of the research is to characterize the neural processes that are involved when infants learn to engage in new actions and social collaborations. A second goal is to test the prediction that these neural processes also support infants' understanding of others' goal-directed actions. To address these issues, the research will evaluate networks of neural activity as infants act and observe others' actions, and will assess whether these patterns of neural activity predict when infants are able to respond appropriately to others' goal-directed actions. Beyond addressing the focal research questions, the proposed studies will generate new approaches to analyzing infant neural and cognitive development, and the findings of these studies with typically-developing infants may help to shed light on developmental disorders that affect social cognition and social behavior. The project will provide unique multidisciplinary training opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers.