title: Perception of the symmetrical patterning of human gait by infants.
abstract: Two experiments tested 3- and 5-month-old infants' sensitivity to properties of point-light displays of human gait. In Experiment 1, infants were tested for discrimination of point-light displays of a walker and a runner, which, although they differed in many ways, were equivalent with regard to the phasing of limb movements. Results revealed that 3-month-old, but not 5-month-old, infants discriminated these displays. In Experiment 2, the symmetrical phase-patterning of the runner display was perturbed by advancing two of its limbs by 25% of the gait cycle. Both 3- and 5-month-old infants discriminated the walker display from this new phase-shifted runner display. These findings suggest that 3-month-old infants respond to the absolute and relative motions within a single limb, whereas 5-month-old infants respond primarily to the relations between limbs and, in particular, to the bilateral symmetry between the limbs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-2710, USA. a-booth@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Booth
authors.forename: Bennett I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Bertenthal
authors.forename: Jeannine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pinto
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D011897:Random Allocation; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*