The neural correlates of orienting to walking direction in 6‐month‐old infants: An ERP study. Issue 6 (6th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lunghi, Marco; Piccardi, Elena Serena; Richards, John E.; Simion, Francesca
• Is Part Of: Developmental science. Volume 22:Issue 6(2019)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2019-03-06
• Subjects: biological motion -- cortical source analysis -- ERPs -- social stimuli -- visuospatial orienting; Developmental psychology -- Periodicals; Psychology, Comparative -- Periodicals; 155
• DOI: 10.1111/desc.12811
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1363-755X

Abstract

Abstract: The ability to detect social signals represents a first step to enter our social world. Behavioral evidence has demonstrated that 6‐month‐old infants are able to orient their attention toward the position indicated by walking direction, showing faster orienting responses toward stimuli cued by the direction of motion than toward uncued stimuli. The present study investigated the neural mechanisms underpinning this attentional priming effect by using a spatial cueing paradigm and recording EEG (Geodesic System 128 channels) from 6‐month‐old infants. Infants were presented with a central point‐light walker followed by a single peripheral target. The target appeared randomly at a position either congruent or incongruent with the walking direction of the cue. We examined infants' target‐locked event‐related potential (ERP) responses and we used cortical source analysis to explore which brain regions gave rise to the ERP responses. The P1 component and saccade latencies toward the peripheral target were modulated by the congruency between the walking direction of the cue and the position of the target. Infants' saccade latencies were faster in response to targets appearing at congruent spatial locations. The P1 component was larger in response to congruent than to incongruent targets and a similar congruency effect was found with cortical source analysis in the parahippocampal gyrus and the anterior fusiform gyrus. Overall, these findings suggest that a type of biological motion like the one of a vertebrate walking on the legs can trigger covert orienting of attention in 6‐month‐old infants, enabling enhancement of neural activity related to visual processing of potentially relevant information as well as a facilitation of oculomotor responses to stimuli appearing at the attended location. Abstract : Infants, after being presented with a central point‐light walker followed by a single peripheral target, showed larger P1 component in response to congruent than to incongruent target. This effect is present in the pariatel‐occipital regions.