Poster #39 - Real-time problem solving in children and adults: The development of predictive planning in object fitting

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

Goal-directed actions pose a continuous problem-solving challenge—how to navigate an obstacle, open a latch, or grasp the handle of a tool. From infancy to three years of age, children master a host of perceptual-motor skills to meet the challenges of goal-directed action. For example, to fit objects into apertures (as with “shape-sorter” toys and many activities of daily living), infants must detect the object’s size and shape, recognize the spatial relations between object and aperture (e.g., outer contour of object and inner contour of aperture), reach and grasp the object based on its spatial structure, and finally align the object to the aperture.
Previous work focused on the ages at which children succeed in object fitting and similar problems. We departed from previous work by focusing on how children attempt to solve problems, regardless of their success in doing so. Are children’s problem-solving strategies similar to those of adults? And do children display developmental improvements even after they succeed at solving the problem? We addressed these questions by examining the real-time process by which children and adults solved an object-fitting problem. Four-year-olds (N=24) and adults (N=24) inserted 3D shapes (rectangle, diamond, and circle; Figure 1A) into corresponding apertures in a “shape-sorting” box. We recorded participants’ gaze using a head-mounted eye tracker and coded their actions from video (Figure 1A; we also collected EEG, which we will analyze prior to SRCD). To analyze the time course of action, we focused on three time intervals (Figure 1B)—Interval 1, from trial onset until the first video frame participants grasped the object; Interval 2, from the initial grasp until the moment the object touched the box; and Interval 3, from the moment the object touched the box until it was fully inserted into the aperture.
All adults and children successfully fitted the objects. However, adults performed the task faster during Intervals 2 and 3 (Figure 2A). Eye-tracking data indicated that adults looked at the object and the aperture more than children did during Intervals 1 and 2, before object insertion (Figure 2B). Adults also displayed more gaze shifts between the object and its matched aperture in Intervals 1 and 2 (Figure 2C). Therefore, the real-time pattern of their actions also differed. Children changed the orientation of objects later in Interval 3 (Figure 2D), they relied more on touch (Figure 2E), and their actions followed their gaze less than those of adults (Figure 2F). Thus, the coordination of biomechanical properties with visual information about the objects before contact boosts the efficiency of object fitting.
Findings demonstrate a developmental shift from a “trial-and-error” strategy in children, in which perception-action dynamics occur in the midst of the fitting action, to a more efficient “planning-ahead” strategy in adults, in which perception-action dynamics occur prior to object fitting. More broadly, this work provides insights into where children direct their visual attention as they solve spatial problems, and highlight prospective control as a crucial skill that children must master when integrating perceptual-cognitive abilities with manual actions.

Authors

• Ori Ossmy, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Danyang Han, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Minxin Cheng, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brianna Kaplan, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jaya Rachwani, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Karen E Adolph, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author