Infants’ representations of the infant body in the first year of life: a preferential looking time study
Abstract Representing others’ bodies is of fundamental importance for interacting with our environment, yet little is known about how body representations develop. Previous research suggests that infants have expectations about the typical structure of human bodies from relatively early in life, but...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41235-w |
| _version_ | 1797452799987941376 |
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| author | Silvia Rigato Maria Laura Filippetti Carina de Klerk |
| author_facet | Silvia Rigato Maria Laura Filippetti Carina de Klerk |
| author_sort | Silvia Rigato |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Representing others’ bodies is of fundamental importance for interacting with our environment, yet little is known about how body representations develop. Previous research suggests that infants have expectations about the typical structure of human bodies from relatively early in life, but that these expectations are dependent on how closely the stimuli resemble the bodies infants are exposed to in daily life. Yet, all previous studies used images of adult human bodies, and therefore it is unknown whether infants’ representations of infant bodies follow a similar developmental trajectory. In this study we investigated whether infants have expectations about the relative size of infant body parts in a preferential looking study using typical and disproportional infant bodies. We recorded the looking behaviour of three groups of infants between 5 and 14 months of age while they watched images of upright and inverted infant bodies, typical and proportionally distorted, and also collected data on participants’ locomotor abilities. Our results showed that infants of all ages looked equally at the typical and proportionally distorted infant body stimuli in both the upright and inverted conditions, and that their looking behaviour was unrelated to their locomotor skills. These findings suggest that infants may need additional visual experience with infant bodies to develop expectations about their typical proportions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:13:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a66faf8a4bd344f289d4bffd5af75f89 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:13:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-a66faf8a4bd344f289d4bffd5af75f892023-11-26T13:12:27ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-08-011311710.1038/s41598-023-41235-wInfants’ representations of the infant body in the first year of life: a preferential looking time studySilvia Rigato0Maria Laura Filippetti1Carina de Klerk2Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of EssexCentre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of EssexCentre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of EssexAbstract Representing others’ bodies is of fundamental importance for interacting with our environment, yet little is known about how body representations develop. Previous research suggests that infants have expectations about the typical structure of human bodies from relatively early in life, but that these expectations are dependent on how closely the stimuli resemble the bodies infants are exposed to in daily life. Yet, all previous studies used images of adult human bodies, and therefore it is unknown whether infants’ representations of infant bodies follow a similar developmental trajectory. In this study we investigated whether infants have expectations about the relative size of infant body parts in a preferential looking study using typical and disproportional infant bodies. We recorded the looking behaviour of three groups of infants between 5 and 14 months of age while they watched images of upright and inverted infant bodies, typical and proportionally distorted, and also collected data on participants’ locomotor abilities. Our results showed that infants of all ages looked equally at the typical and proportionally distorted infant body stimuli in both the upright and inverted conditions, and that their looking behaviour was unrelated to their locomotor skills. These findings suggest that infants may need additional visual experience with infant bodies to develop expectations about their typical proportions.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41235-w |
| spellingShingle | Silvia Rigato Maria Laura Filippetti Carina de Klerk Infants’ representations of the infant body in the first year of life: a preferential looking time study Scientific Reports |
| title | Infants’ representations of the infant body in the first year of life: a preferential looking time study |
| title_full | Infants’ representations of the infant body in the first year of life: a preferential looking time study |
| title_fullStr | Infants’ representations of the infant body in the first year of life: a preferential looking time study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Infants’ representations of the infant body in the first year of life: a preferential looking time study |
| title_short | Infants’ representations of the infant body in the first year of life: a preferential looking time study |
| title_sort | infants representations of the infant body in the first year of life a preferential looking time study |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41235-w |
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