Miyazaki Michiko, Takahashi Hideyuki, Rolf Matthias, Okada Hiroyuki, Omori Takashi
1] Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University [2] School of Social Information Studies, Otsuma Women's University [3].
1] Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University [2] Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University [3].
Sci Rep. 2014 Jun 30;4:5498. doi: 10.1038/srep05498.
Human infants show spontaneous behaviours such as general movement, goal-directed behaviour, and self-motivated behaviour from a very early age. However, it is unclear how these behaviours are organised throughout development. A major hindrance to empirical investigation is that there is no common paradigm for all ages that can circumvent infants' underdeveloped verbal and motor abilities. Here, we propose a new paradigm, named the image-scratch task, using a gaze-contingent technique that is adaptable to various extents of motor ability. In this task, participants scratch off a black layer on a display to uncover pictures beneath it by using their gaze. We established quantitative criteria for spontaneous eye-movement based on adults' gaze-data and demonstrated that our task is useful for evaluating eye-movements motivated by outcome attractiveness in 8-month-olds. Finally, we discuss the potential of this paradigm for revealing the mechanisms and developmental transitions underlying infants' spontaneous and intentional behaviours.
人类婴儿从很小的时候就表现出诸如全身运动、目标导向行为和自我驱动行为等自发行为。然而，目前尚不清楚这些行为在整个发育过程中是如何组织起来的。实证研究的一个主要障碍是，不存在适用于所有年龄段的通用范式来规避婴儿尚未发育完善的语言和运动能力。在此，我们提出一种名为图像刮擦任务的新范式，它使用一种注视相关技术，该技术可适应不同程度的运动能力。在这个任务中，参与者通过注视刮掉显示屏上的黑色图层，以露出其下方的图片。我们基于成年人的注视数据建立了自发眼动的定量标准，并证明我们的任务对于评估8个月大婴儿受结果吸引力驱动的眼动是有用的。最后，我们讨论了这种范式在揭示婴儿自发和有意行为背后的机制及发育转变方面的潜力。
