The Design and Development of Instrumented Toys for the Assessment of Infant Cognitive Flexibility
The first years of an infant’s life represent a sensitive period for neurodevelopment where one can see the emergence of nascent forms of executive function (EF), which are required to support complex cognition. Few tests exist for measuring EF during infancy, and the available tests require painsta...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/5/2709 |
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| author | Vishal Ramanathan Mohammad Zaidi Ariffin Guo Dong Goh Guo Liang Goh Mohammad Adhimas Rikat Xing Xi Tan Wai Yee Yeong Juan-Pablo Ortega Victoria Leong Domenico Campolo |
| author_facet | Vishal Ramanathan Mohammad Zaidi Ariffin Guo Dong Goh Guo Liang Goh Mohammad Adhimas Rikat Xing Xi Tan Wai Yee Yeong Juan-Pablo Ortega Victoria Leong Domenico Campolo |
| author_sort | Vishal Ramanathan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The first years of an infant’s life represent a sensitive period for neurodevelopment where one can see the emergence of nascent forms of executive function (EF), which are required to support complex cognition. Few tests exist for measuring EF during infancy, and the available tests require painstaking manual coding of infant behaviour. In modern clinical and research practice, human coders collect data on EF performance by manually labelling video recordings of infant behaviour during toy or social interaction. Besides being extremely time-consuming, video annotation is known to be rater-dependent and subjective. To address these issues, starting from existing cognitive flexibility research protocols, we developed a set of instrumented toys to serve as a new type of task instrumentation and data collection tool suitable for infant use. A commercially available device comprising a barometer and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) embedded in a 3D-printed lattice structure was used to detect when and how the infant interacts with the toy. The data collected using the instrumented toys provided a rich dataset that described the sequence of toy interaction and individual toy interaction patterns, from which EF-relevant aspects of infant cognition can be inferred. Such a tool could provide an objective, reliable, and scalable method of collecting early developmental data in socially interactive contexts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:10:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bb740804c4f848fca38390fb03427a9d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:10:46Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-bb740804c4f848fca38390fb03427a9d2023-11-17T08:38:39ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202023-03-01235270910.3390/s23052709The Design and Development of Instrumented Toys for the Assessment of Infant Cognitive FlexibilityVishal Ramanathan0Mohammad Zaidi Ariffin1Guo Dong Goh2Guo Liang Goh3Mohammad Adhimas Rikat4Xing Xi Tan5Wai Yee Yeong6Juan-Pablo Ortega7Victoria Leong8Domenico Campolo9Robotics Research Center, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, SingaporeRobotics Research Center, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, SingaporeSingapore Centre for 3D Printing, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, SingaporeSchool of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, SingaporeSchool of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, SingaporeDivision of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, SingaporeSingapore Centre for 3D Printing, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, SingaporeDivision of Mathematical Sciences, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, SingaporeDivision of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, SingaporeRobotics Research Center, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, SingaporeThe first years of an infant’s life represent a sensitive period for neurodevelopment where one can see the emergence of nascent forms of executive function (EF), which are required to support complex cognition. Few tests exist for measuring EF during infancy, and the available tests require painstaking manual coding of infant behaviour. In modern clinical and research practice, human coders collect data on EF performance by manually labelling video recordings of infant behaviour during toy or social interaction. Besides being extremely time-consuming, video annotation is known to be rater-dependent and subjective. To address these issues, starting from existing cognitive flexibility research protocols, we developed a set of instrumented toys to serve as a new type of task instrumentation and data collection tool suitable for infant use. A commercially available device comprising a barometer and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) embedded in a 3D-printed lattice structure was used to detect when and how the infant interacts with the toy. The data collected using the instrumented toys provided a rich dataset that described the sequence of toy interaction and individual toy interaction patterns, from which EF-relevant aspects of infant cognition can be inferred. Such a tool could provide an objective, reliable, and scalable method of collecting early developmental data in socially interactive contexts.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/5/2709instrumented toysecological behavioural assessmentexecutive function developmentinertial motion detectionbarometric force sensing3D printing |
| spellingShingle | Vishal Ramanathan Mohammad Zaidi Ariffin Guo Dong Goh Guo Liang Goh Mohammad Adhimas Rikat Xing Xi Tan Wai Yee Yeong Juan-Pablo Ortega Victoria Leong Domenico Campolo The Design and Development of Instrumented Toys for the Assessment of Infant Cognitive Flexibility Sensors instrumented toys ecological behavioural assessment executive function development inertial motion detection barometric force sensing 3D printing |
| title | The Design and Development of Instrumented Toys for the Assessment of Infant Cognitive Flexibility |
| title_full | The Design and Development of Instrumented Toys for the Assessment of Infant Cognitive Flexibility |
| title_fullStr | The Design and Development of Instrumented Toys for the Assessment of Infant Cognitive Flexibility |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Design and Development of Instrumented Toys for the Assessment of Infant Cognitive Flexibility |
| title_short | The Design and Development of Instrumented Toys for the Assessment of Infant Cognitive Flexibility |
| title_sort | design and development of instrumented toys for the assessment of infant cognitive flexibility |
| topic | instrumented toys ecological behavioural assessment executive function development inertial motion detection barometric force sensing 3D printing |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/5/2709 |
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