The Influence of Active and Passive Motion Experience on Infants’ Visual Prediction Ability

• Published in: Perceptual and motor skills Vol. 130; no. 1; pp. 170 - 190
• Main Authors: Gehb, Gloria, Jovanovic, Bianca, Kelch, Amanda, Schwarzer, Gudrun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.02.2023; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Humans; Infant; Motor Skills; Visual Perception; motor development; infancy; visual encoding; visual prediction; locomotion training
• ISSN: 0031-5125; 1558-688X
• DOI: 10.1177/00315125221137949

In the present study we examined whether infants' visual prediction abilities were related to different types of motion experiences. We tested 30 6-month-old infants on a visual-spatial prediction task in which they had to visually anticipate the locational reappearance of temporarily occluded moving objects. We assigned infants to one of three experience groups: active locomotion training, passive motion experience, and a no-training control group. We tested the infants’ visual prediction abilities before and after these trainings. We found improved infant predictions at a post-training test only for passively trained infants (p = .015, d = −1.033; Bonferroni corrected). Thus, we conclude that infants’ visual-spatial predictions of temporally occluded moving objects was facilitated by mere movement experience, even if passive. Visual information gathered during even passive movement seemed sufficient for visual prediction.