Infant exploratory movements to localize a sound object in peri- and extrapersonal space

HÜG, MERCEDES XIMENA; TOMMASINI, FABIÁN C.; BERMEJO, FERNANDO; HINALAF, MARÍA; VERGARA, RAMIRO; ORTIZ SKARP, ALDO H.; ARIAS, CLAUDIA

Buenos AIres

Congreso; 22nd International Congress on Acoustics-ICA 2016; 2016

Argentinian Acousticians Association

Embodiedcognition approaches claim that perception is not possible without action. Toperceive implies extract meaningful information from a complex environment bygenerating relevant sensory information contingent with current motor behavior.Since birth, the child´s behavior is oriented towards an active exploration ofthe environment. Evaluation of infant´s spontaneous responses towards soundsources, such as reaching and head turning, has an important role in the increasinginterdisciplinary field of developmental psychoacoustics. Movements made byinfants of 6 and 12 months old were characterized in a test of auditorydistance perception. A sound object was presented to the infant in the dark inhis peri (reachable) or extrapersonal (unreachable) space. The infant´s behaviorwas recorded by two cameras mounted above and beside the participant.Micro-level analysis of video data was performed in each trial. Results showedthat, even without visual cues, infants adapted his behavior to the ecologicalproperties of the sound source: reaching was observed more frequently if the rattlewas in his peripersonal space. Micro-level analysis of real-time sensorimotororganization of two infants revealed a coupling between movement (head andhand) and the sound source presentation.