title: Cue salience and infant perseverative reaching: tests of the dynamic field theory.
abstract: Skilled behavior requires a balance between previously successful behaviors and new behaviors appropriate to the present context. We describe a dynamic field model for understanding this balance in infant perseverative reaching. The model predictions are tested with regard to the interaction of two aspects of the typical perseverative reaching task: the visual cue indicating the target and the memory demand created by the delay imposed between cueing and reaching. The memory demand was manipulated by imposing either a 0- or a 3-second delay, and the salience of the cue to reach was systematically varied. Infants demonstrated fewer perseverative errors at 0-delay versus 3-second delay based on the cue salience, such that a more salient visual cue was necessary to overcome a longer delay. These results have important implications for understanding both the basic perceptual-motor processes that produce reaching in infants and skilled flexible behavior in general.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA 99362, USA. clearfmw@whitman.edu
authors.forename: Melissa W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Clearfield
authors.forename: Evelina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dineva
authors.forename: Linda B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Frederick J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Diedrich
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thelen
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis