Neuronal Dynamics of Infants’ Understanding and Learning from Others’ Actions

• In Event: 1-145 - Mechanisms Underlying the Development of Action Understanding in Infancy

Integrative Statement

From early on, infants form a basic understanding of others’ actions, and, shortly thereafter, learn to adopt them. In infancy, the reactions to unexpected action outcomes (Reid et al., 2009) and imitation of others’ actions (Gergely et al., 2002), mark early milestones in infants’ understanding and learning about others’ actions. Yet, it is a major challenge to study the neuronal dynamics underlying infants’ learning about others’ actions. Here, we studied infants’ brain rhythmic activity across two standard paradigms: (1) their neuronal processing of unexpected action outcomes and events, and (2) the neuronal oscillatory dynamics predicting later imitation in a pedagogical learning paradigm.

In Study 1, we used visual brain entrainment (i.e., visually flickering stimuli) to elicit neuronal oscillations at the theta (4 Hz) and the alpha (6 Hz) rhythm, while presenting 9-month-old infants (N = 38) with novel, unexpected action outcomes and physical events. The entrained stimuli elicited clear steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in the scalp recorded electroencephalogram (EEG, see Figure 1A). As hypothesized, visually entrained theta but not alpha oscillations sharply increased for unexpected outcomes, in contrast to expected outcomes (see Figure 1B). This provides the first experimental evidence that the theta rhythm is an encoding mechanism in the developing infant brain, when observing novel, unexpected actions. In particular, the theta rhythm may be a neuronal updating mechanism enabling infants to form and refine their mental models about others’ actions and physical regularities in their environment.

In Study 2, we demonstrated 12 actions, performed with different objects, to 10- and 20-month-old infants (n = 45, in each group), while recoding their EEG. These actions were either performed in a pedagogical or a non-pedagogical context (see Figure 2). 20-month-olds were given the opportunity to imitate the observed actions in a subsequent play session. We will present our results with regard to the hypotheses that 20-month-olds will remember and imitate the actions presented in a pedagogical context better than those presented in a non-pedagogical context and that this learning effect will be predicted by their neuronal dynamics during encoding. In particular, we expect that infants’ learning processes are reflected in a ~ 6 Hz mu suppression at central electrodes as well as increases in 4 Hz theta oscillations. Similar mechanisms may also take place when infants observe others’ actions in a pedagogical context, before they are able to imitate them, at 10 months.

Taken together, the current studies highlight how neuronal oscillatory analysis reveals the processes underlying infants’ understanding and learning from others’ actions. More generally, this presentation will show how the manipulation and assessment of infants’ brain rhythms may open up new ways to investigate infants’ preverbal learning processes.

Authors

• Moritz Köster, Free University Berlin
  Presenting Author

• Miriam Langeloh, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christian Kliesch, Lancaster University, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
  Non-Presenting Author

• Patricia Kanngiesser, Freie Universität Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stefanie Hoehl, University of Vienna
  Non-Presenting Author