Does Human Touch Facilitate Object Categorization in 6-to-9-Month-Old Infants?
Infants form object categories in the first months of life. By 3 months and throughout the first year, successful categorization varies as a function of the acoustic information presented in conjunction with category members. Here we ask whether tactile information, delivered in conjunction with cat...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Brain Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/10/12/940 |
| _version_ | 1797416262310035456 |
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| author | Girija Kadlaskar Sandra Waxman Amanda Seidl |
| author_facet | Girija Kadlaskar Sandra Waxman Amanda Seidl |
| author_sort | Girija Kadlaskar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Infants form object categories in the first months of life. By 3 months and throughout the first year, successful categorization varies as a function of the acoustic information presented in conjunction with category members. Here we ask whether tactile information, delivered in conjunction with category members, also promotes categorization. Six- to 9-month-olds participated in an object categorization task in either a touch-cue or no-cue condition. For infants in the touch-cue condition, familiarization images were accompanied by precisely-timed light touches from their caregivers; infants in the no-cue condition saw the same images but received no touches. Only infants in the touch-cue condition formed categories. This provides the first evidence that touch may play a role in supporting infants’ object categorization. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:01:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1364a2c7fbc84ac8a1046d10bc442fe1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:01:57Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-1364a2c7fbc84ac8a1046d10bc442fe12023-12-03T12:08:04ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252020-12-01101294010.3390/brainsci10120940Does Human Touch Facilitate Object Categorization in 6-to-9-Month-Old Infants?Girija Kadlaskar0Sandra Waxman1Amanda Seidl2Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USADepartment of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USADepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USAInfants form object categories in the first months of life. By 3 months and throughout the first year, successful categorization varies as a function of the acoustic information presented in conjunction with category members. Here we ask whether tactile information, delivered in conjunction with category members, also promotes categorization. Six- to 9-month-olds participated in an object categorization task in either a touch-cue or no-cue condition. For infants in the touch-cue condition, familiarization images were accompanied by precisely-timed light touches from their caregivers; infants in the no-cue condition saw the same images but received no touches. Only infants in the touch-cue condition formed categories. This provides the first evidence that touch may play a role in supporting infants’ object categorization.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/10/12/940infantscategorizationtouchcommunicationnon-speech |
| spellingShingle | Girija Kadlaskar Sandra Waxman Amanda Seidl Does Human Touch Facilitate Object Categorization in 6-to-9-Month-Old Infants? Brain Sciences infants categorization touch communication non-speech |
| title | Does Human Touch Facilitate Object Categorization in 6-to-9-Month-Old Infants? |
| title_full | Does Human Touch Facilitate Object Categorization in 6-to-9-Month-Old Infants? |
| title_fullStr | Does Human Touch Facilitate Object Categorization in 6-to-9-Month-Old Infants? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does Human Touch Facilitate Object Categorization in 6-to-9-Month-Old Infants? |
| title_short | Does Human Touch Facilitate Object Categorization in 6-to-9-Month-Old Infants? |
| title_sort | does human touch facilitate object categorization in 6 to 9 month old infants |
| topic | infants categorization touch communication non-speech |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/10/12/940 |
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