Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Mar-Apr;23(2):252-267.
doi: 10.1111/infa.12207. Epub 2017 Aug 23.

Trajectory Discrimination and Peripersonal Space Perception in Newborns

Giulia Orioli  1 , Maria Laura Filippetti  2 , Walter Gerbino  3 , Danica Dragovic  4 , Teresa Farroni  1
Affiliations

Trajectory Discrimination and Peripersonal Space Perception in Newborns

Giulia Orioli et al. Infancy. 2018 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

The ability to discriminate the trajectories of moving objects is highly adaptive and fundamental for physical and social interactions. Therefore, we could reasonably expect sensitivity to different trajectories already at birth, as a precursor of later communicative and defensive abilities. To investigate this possibility, we measured newborns' looking behavior to evaluate their ability to discriminate between visual stimuli depicting motion along different trajectories happening within the space surrounding their body. Differently from previous studies, we did not take into account defensive reactions, which may not be elicited by impending collision as newborns might not categorize approaching stimuli as possible dangers. In two experiments, we showed that newborns display a spontaneous visual preference for trajectories directed toward their body. We found this visual preference when visual stimuli depicted motion in opposite directions (approaching vs. receding) as well as when they both moved toward the peripersonal space and differed only in their specific target (i.e., the body vs. the space around it). These findings suggest that at birth human infants seem to be already equipped with visual mechanisms predisposing them to perceive their presence in the environment and to adaptively focus their attention on the peripersonal space and their bodily self.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Experimental procedure. Each newborn participated in two experiments, one immediately following the other. The two experiments and the two trials within each experiment were presented in counterbalanced order across participants. In Experiment A, in each trial, we compared parallel stimuli depicting an approaching and colliding (AC) and a receding (R) trajectory (eight presentations); the positions of the two stimuli were counterbalanced across trials. In Experiment B, in one trial (A), we presented two simultaneous stimuli depicting an AC trajectory (eight presentations), whereas in another trial (B), we presented two simultaneous stimuli depicting an approaching but non‐colliding (ANC) trajectory (eight presentations). In Experiment B, the Looking Times were compared across trials (sequential looking time).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Looking Time results in Experiment A. Mean and SE of the proportion of Looking Time [P(LT)] directed to approaching and colliding (AC) and receding (R) visual stimuli during Experiment A. ** p < 0.01
Figure 3
Figure 3
Looking Time results. Mean and SE of the proportions of Looking Time [P(LT)] to approaching and colliding (AC) and receding (R) stimuli during the first and the second halves of each presentation (Experiment A).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Looking Time results in Experiment B. Mean and SE of the proportion of Looking Time [P(LT)] directed to approaching and colliding (AC) and approaching but non‐colliding (ANC) visual stimuli during Experiment B. ** p < 0.01
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abrams, R. A. , & Christ, S. E. (2005). The onset of receding motion captures attention: Comment on Franconeri and Simons (2003). Perception & Psychophysics, 67, 219–223. - PubMed
    1. Abrams, R. A. , & Christ, S. E. (2006). Motion onset captures attention: A rejoinder to Franconeri and Simons (2005). Perception & Psychophysics, 68(1), 114–117. - PubMed
    1. Ball, W. , & Tronick, E. (1971). Infant responses to impending collision: Optical and real. Science, 171, 818–820. - PubMed
    1. Banks, M. S. , & Ginsburg, A. P. (1985). Infant visual preferences: A review and new theoretical treatment In Reese H. W. (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (pp. 207–246). New York, NY: Academic. - PubMed
    1. Barbu‐Roth, M. , Anderson, D. I. , Desprès, A. , Provasi, J. , Cabrol, D. , & Campos, J. J. (2009). Neonatal stepping in relation to terrestrial optic flow. Child Development, 80(1), 8–14. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources