# INFANTS' SENSITIVITY TO KINEMATIC INFORMATION

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · 1994 · $217,034

## Abstract

The focus of this proposal is to continue our investigation into how
motion information is processed by infants and how that processing changes
with age. It is conjectured that two functions are especially important to
the early development of this process. The first concerns object
perception and recognition, and the second concerns spatial orientation
and perceptual guidance of the self. Although both functions rely on the
processing of motion information, they depend on very different
transactions between the observer and the environment. It is thus
necessary to study motion processing in a variety of different contexts.

Three specific problems will be addressed by the proposed research: (1)
Developmental changes in the perception, recognition, and representation
of biomechanical motions. A series of converging studies will investigate
the relative contributions of part vs whole perception, dynamic symmetry,
and the representation of the human form for explaining developmental
changes in the perception of biomechanical motions. (2) Developmental
changes in perception-action couplings. Biomechanical studies examining
the postural control system of infants, and an analysis of the
dimensionality of this dynamic system will be used to formulate a more
complete understanding of postural control and its contributions to the
development of reaching. (3) Developmental changes in the processing of
the direction and speed of motion information. Relative changes in
direction and speed are fundamental to the perception of structure and
self-motion from the optic array.  Experiments are proposed to investigate
infants' sensitivities to this information and whether spatial and
temporal integration of this information parallels developmental changes
in the anatomy of the visual system.

The current project is interdisciplinary in scope, and incorporates
concepts and procedures from the fields of psychophysics, computational
vision, biomechanics, motor control theory, and infant development. It is
anticipated that the results from this project will contribute many new
details to our understanding of early perceptual, cognitive, and motor
development, and will also provide new benchmarks for assessing normal
development in infants.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2197274
- **Project number:** 2R01HD016195-13
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
- **SAM.gov UEI:** JJG6HU8PA4S5
- **Principal Investigator:** Bennett I. Bertenthal
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $217,034
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1982-01-01 → 1998-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2197274

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2197274, INFANTS' SENSITIVITY TO KINEMATIC INFORMATION (2R01HD016195-13). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-24 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2197274. Licensed CC0.

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