The Role of Target Distinctiveness in Infant Perseverative Reaching

From a dynamic systems perspective, perseverative errors in infancy arise from the interaction of the perceptual cues with the memory of previous actions. To evaluate this account, we tested 9-month-old infants in a task in which they reached for two targets. Experimenters repeatedly cued the first...

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Published in:	Journal of experimental child psychology Vol. 78; no. 3; pp. 263 - 290
Main Authors:	Diedrich, Frederick J., Highlands, Tonia M., Spahr, Kimberly A., Thelen, Esther, Smith, Linda B.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01-03-2001 Elsevier
Subjects:	A-not-B error Biological and medical sciences Child development Child Development - physiology Cognition - physiology Cognitive Development Cues Developmental psychology Dynamic Systems Theory Error Patterns Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Hand - physiology Humans Infant Infant Behavior infant reaching Infants Male Motor Development Motor Skills - physiology Movement - physiology Newborn. Infant Object Permanence Persistence Psychological Theory Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychology. Psychophysiology Random Allocation Reaching Behavior Theories Time Factors motor development cognitive development Dynamic Systems Theory A-not-B error object permanence infant reaching Human Psychomotor development Goal directed movement Infant Cognition Cognitive development Dynamical system Experimental study Motricity Object permanency
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Summary:	From a dynamic systems perspective, perseverative errors in infancy arise from the interaction of the perceptual cues with the memory of previous actions. To evaluate this account, we tested 9-month-old infants in a task in which they reached for two targets. Experimenters repeatedly cued the first target, which always matched the background (A), and then cued the second target, which varied in its distinctiveness (B). We predicted that a sufficiently distinctive B target would lessen perseverative responding. Results showed that infants perseverated when reaching for two identical targets, but that they made nonperseverative responses when reaching in the presence of a highly distinctive B target. Reach direction on each trial was jointly determined by the distinctiveness of the target, the immediately preceding perceptual events, and the history of reaches in the task.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0022-0965 1096-0457
DOI:	10.1006/jecp.2000.2569