Development of space perception in relation to the maturation of the motor system in infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA

卷:70

Article

Sclafani, Valentina¹  Simpson, Elizabeth A.^1,2  Suomi, Stephen J.²  Ferrari, Pier Francesco¹ 

[1] Univ Parma, Dipartimento Neurosci, I-43100 Parma, Italy

[2] Eunice Kennedy Shiver Natl Inst Child Hlth & Huma, Comparat Ethol Lab, Poolesville, MD USA

关键词: Premotor cortex;    Space representation;    Peripersonal space;    Body schema;    Motor development;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.12.002

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

To act on the environment, organisms must perceive object locations in relation to their body. Several neuroscientific studies provide evidence of neural circuits that selectively represent space within reach (i.e., peripersonal) and space outside of reach (i.e., extrapersonal). However, the developmental emergence of these space representations remains largely unexplored. We investigated the development of space coding in infant macaques and found that they exhibit different motor strategies and hand configurations depending on the objects' size and location. Reaching-grasping improved from 2 to 4 weeks of age, suggesting a broadly defined perceptual body schema at birth, modified by the acquisition and refinement of motor skills through early sensorimotor experience, enabling the development of a mature capacity for coding space. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free