1,721,099 research outputs found
Perception and Early Brain Development
No full textResearch with infants may heavily increase our understanding of the interaction between environment and genetics at every level from molecular to behavioural. Unravelling some of the basic processes that govern « social and physical brain » growth and functional maturation will also shed light on adult ways of perceiving and communicate. Until recently, developmental psychologists have focused on cognitive development to the relative neglect of its neurobiological basis. In the past few years however, knowledge and methodological tools for the investigation of the cognitive abilities of infants have made it possible to address issues about the underlying neurobiological processes.
In Electronic Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development, from Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development ondine: http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/en-ca/home.htm
The Role of Gaze in the Processing of Emotional Facial Expressions
Full text link Gaze plays a fundamental role in the processing of facial expressions from birth. Gaze direction is a crucial part of the social signal encoded in and decoded from faces. The ability to discriminate gaze direction, already evident early in life, is essential for the development of more complex socially relevant tasks, such as joint and shared attention. At the same time, facial expressions play a fundamental role in the encoding of gaze direction and, when combined, expression and gaze communicate behavioural motivation to approach or avoid. However, the investigation of how gaze direction and emotional expression interact during the processing of a face has been relatively neglected, and is the key question of this review. </jats:p
Perceiving and acting on the eyes: The development and neural basis of eye gaze perception
No full textWe begin this chapter by addressing three issues concerning the brain basis of eye-gaze processing in adults. First, which regions of the brain are activated by viewing the eyes of a person? Second, are these activated regions related to those involved in the perception of movement in general? Third, which of these regions are also activated during general face processing? In the next section of the chapter we will turn to development, and focus on behavioural and neural evidence pertaining to two different aspects of eye gaze processing: perceiving the direction of another’s eye gaze, and acting on another’s eye gaze. Finally, we will attempt to synthesise data on the development of eye gaze perception, and speculate on their relation to the available neuroscience data
Preferential orienting to faces in 4 month olds: analysis of temporal-nasal visual field differences
No full textA two-process theory of the development of face processing predicted that newborns' preferential orienting to face-like patterns would be stronger in the temporal visual field than in the nasal. This prediction was confirmed in a previous study. While it is known that the newborn tendency to orient to face-like patterns declines around 6 weeks of age, it is not known whether this is due to inhibition by cortical pathways or to the conflicting biases of cortical and subcortical pathways. In the present experiment we repeated the newborn study but with 4-month-olds and obtained results which were partially consistent with both the inhibition and the conflicting pathways accounts. We conclude that disappearance of the newborn tendency to orient to face-like patterns is probably due to multiple factors
Interpersonal Affective Touch in a Virtual World: Feeling the Social Presence of Others to Overcome Loneliness
Full text linkHumans are by nature social beings tuned to communicate and interact from the very beginning of their lives. The sense of touch represents the most direct and intimate channel of communication and a powerful means of connection between the self and the others. In our digital age, the development and diffusion of internet-based technologies and virtual environments offer new opportunities of communication overcoming physical distance. It however, happens that social interactions are often mediated, and the tactile aspects of communication are overlooked, thus diminishing the feeling of social presence, which may contribute to an increased sense of social disconnection and loneliness. The current manuscript aims to review the extant literature about the socio-affective dimension of touch and current advancements in interactive virtual environments in order to provide a new perspective on multisensory virtual communication. Specifically, we suggest that interpersonal affective touch might critically impact virtual social exchanges, promoting a sense of co-presence and social connection between individuals, possibly overcoming feelings of sensory loneliness. This topic of investigation will be of crucial relevance from a theoretical perspective aiming to understand how we integrate multisensory signals in processing and making sense of interpersonal exchanges, this is important in both typical and atypical populations. Moreover, it will pave the way to promising applications by exploring the possibility to use technical innovations to communicate more interactively in the case of people who suffer from social isolation and disconnection from others
Decoding social signals in the infant brain: A look at eye gaze perception.
No full textFirst, we will discuss behavioral data drawn from three areas that we consider most relevant for the discussion of eye gaze perception in infancy: (1) eye contact detection, (2) gaze following, and (3) joint attention. This section will be followed by a thorough review of findings illuminating the neural basis of eye gaze perception in infancy. This represents the main focus of the chapter and it will build and directly follow up on the behavioral phenomena outlined earlier. The data that will be presented in this section are based on findings obtained by using electroencephalography (EEG)/event-related potential (ERP) methods, which are the neuroimaging methods most commonly used with infants. Note, however, that the fact that most of the neuroimaging work with adults relies on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and that such data are missing with infants, partly limits the conclusions that can be drawn in terms of developmental comparisons between infants and adults especially as far as brain structures are concerned. In closing, we will integrate behavioral and neural findings and look ahead to make suggestions for future work
The right encoding strategy: a near-infrared spectroscopy study on the lateralized activation for own and other race faces.
No full textThe development of a flexible bodily representation: behavioural outcomes and brain oscillatory activity during the Rubber Hand Illusion in preterm and full-term school-age children
Full text linkDuring childhood, the body undergoes rapid changes suggesting the need to constantlyupdate body representation based on the integration of multisensory signals. Sensoryexperiences in critical periods of early development may have a significant impact onthe neurobiological mechanisms underpinning the development of the sense of one’sown body. Specifically, preterm children are at risk for sensory processing difficulties,which may lead to specific vulnerability in binding together sensory information in orderto modulate the representation of the bodily self. The present study aims to investigatethe malleability of body ownership in preterm (N= 21) and full-term (N= 19) school-agechildren, as reflected by sensitivity to the Rubber Hand Illusion. The results revealedthat multisensory processes underlying the ability to identify a rubber hand as beingpart of one’s own body are already established in childhood, as indicated by a highersubjective feeling of embodiment over the rubber hand during synchronous visual-tactilestimulation. Notably, the effect of visual-tactile synchrony was related to the suppressionof the alpha band oscillations over frontal, central, and parietal scalp regions, possiblyindicating a greater activation of somatosensory and associative areas underpinning theillusory body ownership. Moreover, an interaction effect between visual-tactile conditionand group emerged, suggesting that preterm children showed a greater suppressionof alpha oscillatory activity during the illusion. This result together with lower scoresof subjective embodiment over the rubber hand reported by preterm children indicatethat preterm birth may affect the development of the flexible representation of the body.These findings provide an essential contribution to better understand the processesof identification and differentiation of the bodily self from the external environment, inboth full-term and preterm children, paving the way for a multisensory and embodiedapproach to the investigation of social and cognitive development
Agency and reward across development and in autism: A free-choice paradigm
Full text linkOur ability to perform voluntary actions and make choices is shaped by the motivation from control over the resulting effects (agency) and from positive outcomes (reward). The underlying action-outcome binding mechanisms rely on sensorimotor abilities that specialise through child development and undergo different trajectories in autism. The study aimed at disentangling the role of agency and reward in driving action selection of autistic and non-autistic children and adults, who were asked to freely select one of three candies and feed the animals appearing on a tablet. The candies were associated with different probabilities of delivering a neutral vs no effect (agency task), or a positive vs neutral effect (reward task). Choices and reaction times (RT) were measured to understand whether participants preferred and were faster at selecting options with higher probability of producing a neutral vs. no effect (agency) or a positive vs. neutral effect (reward). Participants' choices and RT were not affected by agency, whereas a more frequent selection of the option with higher probability of a positive vs. neutral effect emerged across groups, thus suggesting a reward effect. Autistic participants selected less frequently the option with chance level of receiving a neutral or no effect, which could be interpreted as a sign of reduced tolerance of uncertainty. Across tasks, conditions and age groups, autistic participants presented shorter RT, which is a marker of reduced action planning and control. Future research should deepen how tolerance of uncertainty, action planning and control impact the way autistic individuals make choices in everyday life situations, potentially contributing to restricted and repetitive behaviours
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