The Role of Motion in Infants' Ability to Categorize

Completed

Conditions studied: Child Development

In brief

This study is concerned with psychological and physiological development in infants. Specifically, researchers are interested in when and how babies are able to group similar objects, like animals or vehicles, into the same category. This study will investigate whether motion aids in the categorization process and allows for earlier demonstration of this competency. Previous studies have demonstrated that the ability to categorize stationary objects or images of objects, is present by 6 months of age. This study is made up of three experiments to test: 1. The infant's ability to categorize photographic stimuli. 2. The infant's ability to categorize moving stimuli. 3. The infant's ability to transfer knowledge from moving to photographic stimuli. Initially, the abilities of 3- and 6-month-old infants will be compared. It is also possible that 9-month-old infants will be tested. Data will consist of looking at time measures (level of attention to displays) and heart rate. The ability of infants to transfer category knowledge will support the view that motion is a source of information for object categorization.

Key facts

Study ID
NCT00362076
Run by
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
People needed
941
Starts
1998-09-03
Expected to finish
2012-04-19
Last updated by the study team
2017-07-02

Who can join

Age: 0 and older, up to 6. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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