Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BIPEDAL (Body Imagery and Posture Effects in Development and Learning)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-10-10 bis 2024-10-09
The purpose of this project is to learn how infants get a sense of their own bodies, and how they use their own bodies to learn about other people and the world around them. When infants are born, they cannot hold their own heads up. Less than two years later, they can walk, dance, and run around. In this time, they also learn to communicate, put short phrases together, and copy what other people are doing. When infants are learning, they rely on things they have seen, felt, and experienced. One of the earliest ways that infants begin to learn about other people is by watching their actions and learning to predict the action outcomes.
For infants, learning to do something new or “produce” a new action, leads to understanding or “perceiving” what someone else is doing better. Parts of the brain that are involved in movement and doing actions with our bodies, are also active when we watch someone else doing the same thing. This is true for infants too. Different parts of the brain control different parts of the body. This means they are "somatotopic". For example, when we do something with our hands (or watch someone else do something with their hands), a different part of the brain is active than when we are doing (or watching) an action with the feet.
This project has four main scientific objectives. The first objective is to study somatotopic activity in motor areas of the brain as infants observe actions using different parts of the body (e.g. is the “hand” part of the brain is more active when the infant is doing, and watching, actions using the hands). Our second objective is to understand how the motor skills that babies can perform affect their responses to other people’s actions. This objective also involves revisiting historical measures of motor development, and finding new ways to measure motor skills.
Our third objective is to understand how much infants are making reference to, and using, their own bodies and motor systems to learn about other people’s actions. We do this by gently restricting their ability to do certain things, or use certain skills, in the moment, and see how this affects their ability to figure out other people’s actions when they do actions which require the same skill. Our fourth objective is to look at basic forms of perspective-taking (e.g. imagining what something looks like from another person’s point of view) and examine how motor imagery plays a role in them.
The project addresses fundamental aspects of cognitive, social and motor development. Having an improved understanding of how humans learn to relate to one another, and how they learn to navigate their social and physical worlds, is an important basis for many applied, societal issues relevant to early years professionals, educational and clinical researchers, and to parents and caregivers of babies and young children.
For infants, learning to do something new or “produce” a new action, leads to understanding or “perceiving” what someone else is doing better. Parts of the brain that are involved in movement and doing actions with our bodies, are also active when we watch someone else doing the same thing. This is true for infants too. Different parts of the brain control different parts of the body. This means they are "somatotopic". For example, when we do something with our hands (or watch someone else do something with their hands), a different part of the brain is active than when we are doing (or watching) an action with the feet.
This project has four main scientific objectives. The first objective is to study somatotopic activity in motor areas of the brain as infants observe actions using different parts of the body (e.g. is the “hand” part of the brain is more active when the infant is doing, and watching, actions using the hands). Our second objective is to understand how the motor skills that babies can perform affect their responses to other people’s actions. This objective also involves revisiting historical measures of motor development, and finding new ways to measure motor skills.
Our third objective is to understand how much infants are making reference to, and using, their own bodies and motor systems to learn about other people’s actions. We do this by gently restricting their ability to do certain things, or use certain skills, in the moment, and see how this affects their ability to figure out other people’s actions when they do actions which require the same skill. Our fourth objective is to look at basic forms of perspective-taking (e.g. imagining what something looks like from another person’s point of view) and examine how motor imagery plays a role in them.
The project addresses fundamental aspects of cognitive, social and motor development. Having an improved understanding of how humans learn to relate to one another, and how they learn to navigate their social and physical worlds, is an important basis for many applied, societal issues relevant to early years professionals, educational and clinical researchers, and to parents and caregivers of babies and young children.
Secondment period, UCD, October 2022 - January 2023
To study infant motor development, we need good measures of key milestones. At UCD, we compared scoring of a developmental milestone - reaching across the body - between two human scorers and an automated scoring program. The study found that although there was high agreement between the human scorer and the machine scoring on some metrics, others showed low agreement. Thus, further refinement of the automated scoring system is required.
Outgoing period, UW, January 2023 - October 2024
(i) Effects of hand posture on infant action perception (12-month-olds)
We developed a live action perception paradigm in which an actor reached for toys of different sizes, and a means of gently restraining infants’ hands, so they couldn’t imitate the actor with the same hand shapes and movements. In a study with 48 infants, we found that this gentle restriction of the infants’ hand movements made it more challenging for them to identify the actor’s target object. This suggests that when an infant’s ability to perform that action overtly is inhibited, so too is their ability to use their own motor experience and motor processes to encode the other person’s action.
(ii) MEG study of infant action perception (9-month-olds)
One of the objectives of the project was to use MEG to study somatotopic responses to actions in infants. That is, to record neural motor activation in infants as they observe an action using a specific part of the body, and to compare it to patterns of activation when the infant performs a comparable action. We brought 20 infants into the MEG laboratory for a live-action version of an infant action perception paradigm, in which the infant watches and performs reaching actions. Data are currently being processed and analysed and results will be used to support further work in the area.
(iii) Measurement of motor performance (6- to 18-month-olds)
Motor development in infancy follows a trajectory of well-described milestones. There is variation among infants in the age at which they attain these milestones, and the order in which they attain them. We collected video data from 142 infants aged 6, 9, 12, and 18 months using a motor production paradigm designed to elicit reaching and grasping behaviour. This paradigm was based on similar work in this area, going back to the 1930s. Following changes in the developmental environment (e.g. the advent of touch-screen devices), it is important to retake measurements of developmental milestones in modern babies and toddlers.
(iv) Training objectives
The Fellow received training in a new method, MEG, and benefited from additional training in her existing areas of expertise in a new setting outside of her European network.
To study infant motor development, we need good measures of key milestones. At UCD, we compared scoring of a developmental milestone - reaching across the body - between two human scorers and an automated scoring program. The study found that although there was high agreement between the human scorer and the machine scoring on some metrics, others showed low agreement. Thus, further refinement of the automated scoring system is required.
Outgoing period, UW, January 2023 - October 2024
(i) Effects of hand posture on infant action perception (12-month-olds)
We developed a live action perception paradigm in which an actor reached for toys of different sizes, and a means of gently restraining infants’ hands, so they couldn’t imitate the actor with the same hand shapes and movements. In a study with 48 infants, we found that this gentle restriction of the infants’ hand movements made it more challenging for them to identify the actor’s target object. This suggests that when an infant’s ability to perform that action overtly is inhibited, so too is their ability to use their own motor experience and motor processes to encode the other person’s action.
(ii) MEG study of infant action perception (9-month-olds)
One of the objectives of the project was to use MEG to study somatotopic responses to actions in infants. That is, to record neural motor activation in infants as they observe an action using a specific part of the body, and to compare it to patterns of activation when the infant performs a comparable action. We brought 20 infants into the MEG laboratory for a live-action version of an infant action perception paradigm, in which the infant watches and performs reaching actions. Data are currently being processed and analysed and results will be used to support further work in the area.
(iii) Measurement of motor performance (6- to 18-month-olds)
Motor development in infancy follows a trajectory of well-described milestones. There is variation among infants in the age at which they attain these milestones, and the order in which they attain them. We collected video data from 142 infants aged 6, 9, 12, and 18 months using a motor production paradigm designed to elicit reaching and grasping behaviour. This paradigm was based on similar work in this area, going back to the 1930s. Following changes in the developmental environment (e.g. the advent of touch-screen devices), it is important to retake measurements of developmental milestones in modern babies and toddlers.
(iv) Training objectives
The Fellow received training in a new method, MEG, and benefited from additional training in her existing areas of expertise in a new setting outside of her European network.
This project has resulted in the development of new paradigms for the study of infant action perception, particularly through the use of safe, tolerable hand posture manipulation. It has resulted in new datasets exploring (i) the impact of posture on infants’ perception of other people’s actions and goals, (ii) the performance of reaching and grasping behaviour by infants across the first 1.5 years of life, (iii) the neural responses of infants to simple performed and observed actions, recorded with MEG, and (iv) the performance of automated methods versus human scorers in assessing performance of motor milestones by infants in natural settings.
The expected results will include further datasets on (i) somatotopic brain responses, recorded using EEG, to performed and observed hand and foot actions in infants, and (ii) adults’ recruitment of mental motor imagery during spatial transformations. We will disseminate the results of all studies through peer-reviewed publications. These results will enable further research in this area, targeting the question of how humans initially get a sense of their own bodies, and how they use motor processes to relate to other people.
Direct impacts of the project include the training of the Fellow in MEG research with infants. This is an emerging area, as new technologies may enable more widespread MEG research particularly with special populations. This project has equipped the Fellow with training and direct experience of designing and conducting MEG paradigms, and processing and analysing MEG data collected from infants.
The expected results will include further datasets on (i) somatotopic brain responses, recorded using EEG, to performed and observed hand and foot actions in infants, and (ii) adults’ recruitment of mental motor imagery during spatial transformations. We will disseminate the results of all studies through peer-reviewed publications. These results will enable further research in this area, targeting the question of how humans initially get a sense of their own bodies, and how they use motor processes to relate to other people.
Direct impacts of the project include the training of the Fellow in MEG research with infants. This is an emerging area, as new technologies may enable more widespread MEG research particularly with special populations. This project has equipped the Fellow with training and direct experience of designing and conducting MEG paradigms, and processing and analysing MEG data collected from infants.