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Frontiers in Psychology. Infant visual attention and stimulus repetition effects on object recognition. Neural correlates of individuation and categorization of other-species faces in infancy. The cortical development of specialized face processing in infancy. Given that delays between familiarization and testing on infant recognition memory tasks are typically very brief and the length of the delay is often not specified, it is particularly difficult to determine whether or not recognition memory performance is based on short-term memory or long-term memory.
Recall that 4-month-olds only demonstrate recognition with up to 10 s delays Diamond, Thus, it is also difficult to determine whether or not performance on the change-preference task taps into maintenance of items in working memory or simply measures recognition memory. Alternatively, one could argue that performance on recognition memory tasks with brief delays may be driven by working memory.
Interestingly, Perone and Spencer a , b again utilized the DNF model to simulate infant performance on recognition memory tasks.
The results of the simulations indicated that increasing the efficiency of excitatory and inhibitory interactions between the perceptual field and a working memory field in their model led to novelty preferences on VPC trials with less exposure to the familiar stimulus. These simulated results are similar to the developmental trends found to occur with increasing age across infancy in empirical studies utilizing the VPC task e.
The authors concluded that development of working memory is a significant factor in the increased likelihood that older infants will demonstrate novelty preferences on recognition memory tasks when compared to younger infants. Individuation involves item or object identification combined with entering the identified information into existing memory representations.
Infants were familiarized with two objects of different shapes presented repeatedly in the middle of a stage. The side position of the objects was alternated across presentations in order to require infants to integrate object shape with location on a trial by trial basis.
During the test phase, the objects were presented in the center of the stage as in familiarization and then placed behind occluders on the same side of the stage.
After a delay, the occluders were removed. On change trials, removal of the occluders revealed that the different shaped objects were reversed in location. On no-change control trials, the objects remained in the same location upon removal of the occluders. Longer looking on change trials indicated individuation of the object based on identifying the change in object shape from the location it was in prior to occlusion.
They argue that the majority of working memory models emphasizing the importance of DLPFC for working memory are confounding the response inhibition required in typical working memory tasks e.
Infants are shown two cards, each with pictures of different objects or patterns on them. The cards are turned over and then a third card is placed face up which matches one of the face down cards.
Infants are rewarded with an attractive stimulus for looks toward the location of the matching face down card. The authors tested 8- and month-olds on this task and found the month-olds performed significantly above chance levels.
Eight month-olds performed at chance levels but showed improvement across trials. Thus, similar to previous work, significant gains in working memory performance are found to occur in the second half of the first postnatal year on the delayed match retrieval task. However, in recent exploratory studies utilizing functional near infrared spectroscopy fNIRS to measure the BOLD response of infant participants during an object-permanence task. Baird et al. However, receptors were only applied to frontal sites, thus limiting the conclusion that the increased frontal activity during this task was unique or of particular functional significance in comparison to other brain regions.
However, Buss et al. In this study, receptors were applied over frontal and parietal locations. Frontal and parietal channels in the left hemisphere showed increased activation when working memory load was increased from 1 to 3 items.
Results supported the possibility that young children utilize a frontal-parietal working memory circuit similar to adults. Luciana and Nelson emphasize the critical role the PFC plays in integrating sensorimotor traces in working memory to guide future behavior. According to Luciana and Nelson, the A-not-B task may actually overestimate the functional maturity of the PFC in infant participants because it does not require the accurate integration of sensorimotor traces in working memory.
They propose the integration of sensorimotor traces should be considered a core process in working memory definitions. The majority of working memory definitions include executive control components, and persistent activity in DLPFC has been linked with control functions involved in the manipulation of information for the purpose of goal-directed action e.
Thus, the exact contribution of PFC to working memory functions in early development remains unclear. What is clear from the extant literature is that infants beyond 5—6 months of age are capable of demonstrating basic yet immature aspects of working memory, and significant improvement in these basic functions occurs from 5—6 months e. Similar to recognition memory, the improvements in working memory performance which occur after 5—6 months of age are likely influenced by further development of the attention systems previously discussed.
The majority of the working memory studies discussed above examined visuospatial working memory. Performance on all of these working memory tasks involves voluntary eye movements and controlled scanning of the stimuli involved in the task. Thus, functional maturity of the posterior orienting system would be key for successful performance on these tasks. This system shows significant development from 3 to 6 months of age Johnson et al. This timing coincides with the time frame at which infants begin to demonstrate above chance performance on working memory tasks.
For example, Gilmore and Johnson reported successful performance on an oculomotor DR task for 6-month-old infants, and Reznick et al. Successful performance on working memory tasks involves more than just voluntary control of eye movements. Working memory tasks also involve attentional control and inhibition. These cognitive functions are both associated with the anterior attention system Posner and Peterson, , which shows significant and protracted development from 6 months on.
Several studies have shown significant improvement on DR and change-preference tasks from 5 to 12 months of age Hofstadter and Reznick, ; Ross-Sheehy et al. Given that some models emphasize the role of PFC and attentional control as being critical for working memory e.
Infants are more likely to demonstrate evidence of recognition memory if initial exposure to the test stimulus occurs during sustained attention or if the infant is engaged in sustained attention during the recognition test e.
It stands to reason that these developmental gains in sustained attention would also facilitate improved performance on working memory tasks. This reasoning is supported by Bell finding that infants who show decreased heart rate from baseline to task also show enhanced performance on the A-not-B task.
Studies utilizing the heart rate phases Richards and Casey, during infant working memory tasks would provide greater insight into the effects of sustained attention on working memory performance. Relations between arousal and attention are complex and change throughout development.
The significant and sustained decrease in heart rate associated with attention is most likely limited to infancy and early childhood; however, individual differences in heart rate variability are related to attention and cognitive performance throughout development Porges, ; Suess et al. Relatively little work has examined the influence of arousal aspects of attention on working memory in later development.
An exception would be the work by Thayer and colleagues Hansen et al. Their findings indicate that individual differences in baseline HRV are associated with performance on working memory tasks. Individuals with high baseline HRV perform better on working memory tasks than individuals with low baseline HRV, and the advantage is specific to tasks requiring executive function Thayer et al. Thus, attention and arousal appear to influence working memory throughout development; however, the dynamics of these relations are complex and would be expected to change significantly with age.
The development of attention and the development of working memory are closely related. Significant gains on working memory tasks overlap in developmental timing with key periods for development of sustained attention, the posterior orienting system, and the anterior attention system.
There is also significant overlap in neural systems involved in attention and working memory. Similarly, research with fNIRS indicates that frontal and parietal areas are involved in working memory performance for infants Baird et al. Given the substantial overlap in developmental timing and neural systems involved in both attention and working memory, future research should aim to examine relations between attention and working memory in infancy and early childhood using both psychophysiological and neural measures.
A multi-level analysis approach would be ideal for addressing the controversy regarding the relative contribution of PFC, parietal cortex, and medial temporal lobe structures to working memory performance.
Attention plays a key role in successful working memory performance, and the development of attention systems most likely influences the development of working memory. Bidirectional effects are common throughout development, and thus of equal interest is the potential influence of working memory on further development of attention systems in infancy and early childhood.
After discussions about potential directions for the article, the authors GDR and ACR settled on the overall content to include and outline to follow for the article.
ACR provided recommendations on potential content for several of the major sections of the article. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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