Development of visual perception

Native and non-native vowel discrimination in 6-month-old Norwegian infants

In the current preregistered study, we tested n = 67 6-month-old Norwegian infants' discrimination of a native vowel contrast /y-i/ and a non-native (British) vowel contrast /ʌ-æ/ in an eye-tracking habituation paradigm. Our results showed that, on a group level, infants did not discriminate either contrast. Yet, exploratory analyses revealed a negative association between infants' performance in each experiment, that is, better discrimination of the native contrast was associated with worse discrimination of the non-native contrast. Potentially, infants in this study might have been on the cusp of perceptual reorganisation towards their native language.

The Effect of a Table Tennis Exercise Program With a Task-Oriented Approach on Visual Perception and Motor Performance of Adolescents With Developmental Coordination Disorder

In this study we investigated the effects of an 8-week table tennis exercise program with a task-oriented approach on visual perception and motor performance of 31 adolescents with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The participants were identified by their teachers as having greater difficulty than their peers (450 students from three Korean middle schools) in physical education (PE) classes. On the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2, these adolescents scored below the 15th percentile and showed difficulties in performing daily life activities due to motor performance problems; they did not have physical defects, intellectual or neurological impairments, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Of 98 prospective adolescents with PE difficulties, we obtained personal assent and parents' informed consent from 54, and 31 of these met screening criteria for DCD through the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire-Korean. This final group was divided in non-random fashion (based on the proximal geographic grouping of the children's schools) between an experimental group (n = 16) and a control group (n = 15). The experimental group participated in the 8-week task-oriented table tennis training program with three 90-minute sessions per week, while the control group only participated in regular PE classes twice per week. We measured participants' visual perception and motor performance in the same environment before and after the intervention program. Participants' visual perception was significantly more improved in the experimental group than the control group, with specific improved skills in visual-motor search, visual-motor speed, figure-ground, and visual closure; copying and perceptual constancy skills did not improve significantly. In addition, total motor performance and motor sub-skills, including fine manual control, manual coordination, body coordination, strength, and agility were significantly more improved in the experimental group than in the control group. Thus, our task-oriented table tennis exercise program was of greater assistance than general PE classes for improving visual perception and motor performance in adolescents at risk of DCD.

Perception of rigidity in three- and four-dimensional spaces

Our brain employs mechanisms to adapt to changing visual conditions. In addition to natural changes in our physiology and those in the environment, our brain is also capable of adapting to "unnatural" changes, such as inverted visual-inputs generated by inverting prisms. In this study, we examined the brain's capability to adapt to hyperspaces. We generated four spatial-dimensional stimuli in virtual reality and tested the ability to distinguish between rigid and non-rigid motion. We found that observers are able to differentiate rigid and non-rigid motion of hypercubes (4D) with a performance comparable to that obtained using cubes (3D). Moreover, observers' performance improved when they were provided with more immersive 3D experience but remained robust against increasing shape variations. At this juncture, we characterize our findings as "3 1/2 D perception" since, while we show the ability to extract and use 4D information, we do not have yet evidence of a complete phenomenal 4D experience.

Age differences in orienting to faces in dynamic scenes depend on face centering, not visual saliency

The current study investigated how infants (6-24 months), children (2-12 years), and adults differ in how visual cues-visual saliency and centering-guide their attention to faces in videos. We report a secondary analysis of Kadooka and Franchak (2020), in which observers' eye movements were recorded during viewing of television clips containing a variety of faces. For every face on every video frame, we calculated its visual saliency (based on both static and dynamic image features) and calculated how close the face was to the center of the image. Results revealed that participants of every age looked more often at each face when it was more salient compared to less salient. In contrast, centering did not increase the likelihood that infants looked at a given face, but in later childhood and adulthood, centering became a stronger cue for face looking. A control analysis determined that the age-related change in centering was specific to face looking; participants of all ages were more likely to look at the center of the image, and this center bias did not change with age. The implications for using videos in educational and diagnostic contexts are discussed.

The neural substrates of visual organization in children and adolescents: An fMRI study

Deficient visual organization ability not only indicates possible brain dysfunctions but further affects an individual's daily activities. This study aimed to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural network contributing to visual organization abilities in children and adolescents. A two-choice version of the Hooper Visual Organization Test (T-HVOT) was adapted as the fMRI task for the present study. The effects of age and gender on overall visual perceptual functions and related neural foundations were also analyzed. Seventy children and adolescents were administered with the Test of Visual Perceptual Skill-Third Edition and 41 completed the fMRI scans. The whole-brain fMRI mapping results showed the cortical activation of multiple brain areas relating to visual organization. The greatest cortical activities were seen in the middle occipital gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, and two age groups showed significant differences in cortical activation patterns as well. Gender had no significant effects on visual perceptual functions nor related cortical activation patterns. The overall visual perception functions improve with age, and the different cortical activation patterns indicated that the two groups adopt different strategies while performing visual organization tasks. The sensitivity and spatial resolution of fMRI allowed us to make specific conclusions about cortical regions involved in visual organization function and to provide a reference for objectively judging rehabilitative outcomes.

Infant color perception: Insight into perceptual development

A remarkable amount of perceptual development occurs in the first year after birth. In this article, we spotlight the case of color perception. We outline how within just 6 months, infants go from very limited detection of color as newborns to a more sophisticated perception of color that enables them to make sense of objects and the world around them. We summarize the evidence that by 6 months, infants can perceive the dimensions of color and categorize it, and have at least rudimentary mechanisms to keep color perceptually constant despite variation in illumination. In addition, infants' sensitivity to color relates to statistical regularities of color in natural scenes. We illustrate the contribution of these findings to understanding the development of perceptual skills such as discrimination, categorization, and constancy. We also discuss the relevance of the findings for broader questions about perceptual development and identify directions for research.

Ultrasonic bone age fractionates cognitive abilities in adolescence

Adolescent development is not only shaped by the mere passing of time and accumulating experience, but it also depends on pubertal timing and the cascade of maturational processes orchestrated by gonadal hormones. Although individual variability in puberty onset confounds adolescent studies, it has not been efficiently controlled for. Here we introduce ultrasonic bone age assessment to estimate biological maturity and disentangle the independent effects of chronological and biological age on adolescent cognitive abilities. Comparing cognitive performance of female participants with different skeletal maturity we uncover the impact of biological age on both IQ and specific abilities. We find that biological age has a selective effect on abilities: more mature individuals within the same age group have higher working memory capacity and processing speed, while those with higher chronological age have better verbal abilities, independently of their maturity. Based on our findings, bone age is a promising biomarker of adolescent maturity.

Learning About the World by Learning About Images

One of the deepest insights in neuroscience is that sensory encoding should take advantage of statistical regularities. Humans’ visual experience contains many redundancies: Scenes mostly stay the same from moment to moment, and nearby image locations usually have similar colors. A visual system that knows which regularities shape natural images can exploit them to encode scenes compactly or guess what will happen next. Although these principles have been appreciated for more than 60 years, until recently it has been possible to convert them into explicit models only for the earliest stages of visual processing. But recent advances in unsupervised deep learning have changed that. Neural networks can be taught to compress images or make predictions in space or time. In the process, they learn the statistical regularities that structure images, which in turn often reflect physical objects and processes in the outside world. The astonishing accomplishments of unsupervised deep learning reaffirm the importance of learning statistical regularities for sensory coding and provide a coherent framework for how knowledge of the outside world gets into visual cortex.

Cultural Differences in Visual Contents in Picture Books

Previous studies investigating cultural differences in attention and perception have shown that individuals from Western countries (e. g., the U.S.) perceive more analytically whereas individuals from East Asian countries (e.g., Japan) perceive more holistically (e.g., Nisbett and Miyamoto, 2005). These differences have been shown in children as young as 3 years old (Kuwabara and Smith, 2016). To reflect cultural influences on cognition, specifically on attention and perception, this study investigated potential differences in the visual environment. In this study, we focused on one of such visual environments that young children are exposed to regularly and influence other domains of development, picture books (Horst and Houston-Price, 2015). Thirty seven U.S. picture books and 37 Japanese picture books were coded for visual contents—how visually crowded—by computer software from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and human coders. Results show that the U.S. picture books are more visually crowded than the Japanese books by the software, but contained more objects than the Japanese books as expected, which reflect well with the cultural differences in attention observed in young children in previous studies. However, the results differed based on the target ages of the books. The implication of the current study is discussed as a reflection of the mutual constitution between culture and psyche.

Visual dependence affects postural sway responses to continuous visual field motion in individuals with cerebral palsy

The current study aimed to explore the impact of visual dependence on sensorimotor coupling of postural sway and visual motion in adults and teens with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). We hypothesized that individuals with CP would exhibit greater magnitudes of sway than healthy individuals, and the presence of visual dependence (VD) would produce instability in the direction of visual motion. Participants stood in a virtual environment in which the visual scene remained static or continuously rotated 30 degree/second in pitch-up or pitch-down. Increased center of pressure and center of mass responses were observed in the direction of visual scene motion in those with CP. Those with VD exhibited reduced frequency responses in anterior-posterior direction than those who were visually independent. VD suggests deficient sensorimotor integration that could contribute to postural instability and reduced motor function. Individuals with CP who are visually dependent may benefit from more sensory focused rehabilitation strategies.

ABBREVIATIONS

AP, anterior-posterior; CP, cerebral palsy; COM, center of mass; COP, center of pressure; MDF, median frequency; ML, mediolateral; PD, pitch down (nose down) rotation; PU, pitch up (nose up) rotation; RFT, rod and frame test; RMS, root mean square; SLP, slope of the fitted line; TD, typical development; VD, visual dependence; VI, visual independence; VOR, vestibulo-ocular reflex; VPI, visual perceptual impairment.

How Perception and Action Fosters Exploration and Selection in Infant Skill Acquisition

In this chapter, we discuss how perception and action are intimately linked to the processes of exploration and selection. Exploration, which we define as trying several variations of the behavior, and selection, which involves attempting to reproduce the behaviors that work, are essential for learning about the environment, discovering the properties of objects, and for acquiring skills in relation to goals. Exploration and selection happen in the moment and over time as behaviors are repeated, hence leading to their fine-tuning to the goal. We illustrate this time-dependent developmental process using several examples from infants reaching for objects, to discovering object properties, to learning about the functionality of tool use, and even to word learning. As we present those examples, we introduce a more detailed perception-action loop to illustrate those moment-to-moment behaviors and show how they contribute to the acquisition of perceptual, motor, and cognitive skills in infancy.

Gaze distribution analysis and saliency prediction across age groups

Knowledge of the human visual system helps to develop better computational models of visual attention. State-of-the-art models have been developed to mimic the visual attention system of young adults that, however, largely ignore the variations that occur with age. In this paper, we investigated how visual scene processing changes with age and we propose an age-adapted framework that helps to develop a computational model that can predict saliency across different age groups. Our analysis uncovers how the explorativeness of an observer varies with age, how well saliency maps of an age group agree with fixation points of observers from the same or different age groups, and how age influences the center bias tendency. We analyzed the eye movement behavior of 82 observers belonging to four age groups while they explored visual scenes. Explorative- ness was quantified in terms of the entropy of a saliency map, and area under the curve (AUC) metrics was used to quantify the agreement analysis and the center bias tendency. Analysis results were used to develop age adapted saliency models. Our results suggest that the proposed age-adapted saliency model outperforms existing saliency models in predicting the regions of interest across age groups.

Individual Differences in Infant Oculomotor Behavior During the Viewing of Complex Naturalistic Scenes

Little research hitherto has examined how individual differences in attention, as assessed using standard experimental paradigms, relate to individual differences in how attention is spontaneously allocated in more naturalistic contexts. Here, we analyzed the time intervals between refoveating eye movements (fixation durations) while typically developing 11-month-old infants viewed a 90-min battery ranging from complex dynamic to noncomplex static materials. The same infants also completed experimental assessments of cognitive control, psychomotor reaction times (RT), processing speed (indexed via peak look during habituation), and arousal (indexed via tonic pupil size). High test-retest reliability was found for fixation duration, across testing sessions and across types of viewing material. Increased cognitive control and increased arousal were associated with reduced variability in fixation duration. For fixations to dynamic stimuli, in which a large proportion of saccades may be exogenously cued, we found that psychomotor RT measures were most predictive of mean fixation duration; for fixations to static stimuli, in contrast, in which there is less exogenous attentional capture, we found that psychomotor RT did not predict performance, but that measures of cognitive control and arousal did. The implications of these findings for understanding the development of attentional control in naturalistic settings are discussed.

Expectations about single event probabilities in the first year of life: The influence of perceptual and statistical information

Recent evidence suggests that infants can generate expectations about future events from a sample of probabilistic data. However, little is known about the conditions that support the development of this ability. Three experiments tested the prediction that 8- and 12-month-olds respond to base rates as well as perceptual cues when they generate expectations from a sample of probabilistic data. Results revealed that 12-month-olds were sensitive to the statistical and perceptual properties of the evidence depending on the distribution of high-to-low base rate items in the sample. Specifically, 12-month-olds focused on perceptual features of the evidence when a sample was large and more skewed (e.g., 6:1), whereas they attended to statistical properties when the sample was smaller and less skewed (e.g., 4:1). In contrast, eight-month-olds always focused on the perceptual features of the evidence. Neither group generated expectations from a small, less skewed sample (e.g., 2:1). These results suggest that the ability to generate expectations about future events is mediated by specific features of the available evidence and undergoes significant change during the 1st year of life.

Infants' perception of chasing

Two significant questions in cognitive and developmental science are first, whether objects and events are selected for attention based on their features (featural processing) or the configuration of their features (configural processing), and second, how these modes of processing develop. These questions have been addressed in part with experiments focused on infants' perception of faces, human body shapes, and biological motion of individual agents. Here, we investigate 4- and 10-month-old infants' (N=192) attention to social motions, specifically to chasing-a ubiquitous, ancient, and fitness-relevant mode of interaction. We constructed computer-generated animations of chasing that had three properties: acceleration, high turning rates, and attraction ("heat-seeking"). In the first experiment we showed chasing side-by-side with a control display of inanimate, billiard-ball-like motions. Infants strongly preferred attending to chasing. In the next three studies, we systematically investigated the effect of each property in turn (acceleration, turning, and attraction) by showing a display of that property side-by-side with the control display. Infants preferentially attended to acceleration, and to attraction, but not to turning. If infants preferred chasing for its configuration, then the sum of the effect sizes of individual properties should be smaller than their combined effects. That is not what we found: instead, on three measures of visual behavior, the summed effects of individual properties equaled (or exceeded) that of chasing. Moreover, although attraction drew little attention and turning no attention at all, acceleration drew (nearly) as much attention as chasing. Our results thus provide evidence that infants preferred chasing because of its features, not its configuration.

Ereigniskorrelierte Potentiale: Ein neuer Zugang zur Erforschung der Objektverarbeitung bei Babys

Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über neuere EKP-Studien zur einfachen Objektdiskrimination, zur Objektkategorisierung und zum sozialen Objektlernen bei Babys. Als Vorteile der EKP-Messung gegenüber Blickzeitmessungen erweisen sich dabei vor allem die kurze Darbietungszeit von Reizen und die hohe zeitliche Auflösung der Messungen. Als relevante EKP-Komponenten werden die Negative central component (Nc) sowie die Positive Slow Wave (PSW) identifiziert. In Bestätigung und Erweiterung von Erkenntnissen der Verhaltensforschung konnte mit Hilfe von EKP-Studien festgestellt werden, dass Säuglinge bereits bis vor dem 6. Lebensmonat in der Lage sind, vertraute Objekte wiederzuerkennen, Objekte auf unterschiedlichen Abstraktionsebenen zu kategorisieren und soziale Hinweisreize zu nutzen, um zu entscheiden, welche Objekte besonders interessant sind. Ihre Objektverarbeitung geht damit weit über einfache Wahrnehmungs- und Diskriminationsleistungen hinaus.