Factors influencing manual discrimination of orientations in 5-month-old infants.

Factors affecting manual discrimination of spatial orientations and orientation preferences in 5-month-old infants have been investigated by using a familiarisation/reaction to novelty procedure. In the first experiment we explored whether the 'vertical preference' observed by Gentaz and Streri (2004 Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 16 1-7) and Kerzerho et al (2005 Neuro Report 16 1833-1837) is an intrinsic preference or whether it is due to familiarisation. In the second experiment we examined whether the magnitude of angular deviation to the vertical influences the direction of preference.

Influence of visual contextual cues on haptic discrimination of orientations in 5-month-old infants.

The present research addressed the question of the influence of visual contextual cues on the manual discrimination of spatial orientations in 5-month-old infants. Different types of visual contextual cues were proposed during the haptic discrimination task: congruent-informative, non congruent-informative or noninformative. A familiarization (with a 60-s fixed-duration)/reaction to novelty procedure was used in three experiments.

Reference frame and haptic discrimination of orientations in infants.

Body-tilt effect on the haptic discrimination of orientations and the 'oblique effect' (better discrimination of the vertical orientation than of an oblique orientation) were examined in 5-month-old infants. Body tilt leads to a mismatch between egocentric and gravitational reference frames and indicates in which reference frame orientations and oblique effect are defined. A familiarization/reaction to novelty procedure was used in upright body and tilted body conditions.