title: Transitions in the temporal parameters of sensory preconditioning during infancy.
abstract: Sensory preconditioning (SPC) is a form of latent learning in which preexposure to co-occurring neutral stimuli (S1-S2) permits subsequent learning to be transferred from one stimulus (S1) to the other (S2). We examined whether human infants exhibit developmental transitions in the temporal parameters of SPC by manipulating the preexposure regimen. Infants received simultaneous or sequential preexposure to puppets S1and S2(Days 1-2); saw target actions modeled on S1(Day 3); and were tested for deferred imitation with S2(Day 4). Although 6-, 9-, and 12-month-olds associated the puppets, there was a shift in the effective regimen from simultaneous to sequential preexposure-similar to prior findings with rat pups (Experiment 1). Experiment 2 revealed that human infants potentially exhibit another transition in SPC at 15 and 18 months of age. We consider the roles of ontogenetic shifts in infants' ecological niche, selective attention, and unitization in developmental transitions in SPC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Waterbury, Connecticut. kimberly.cuevas@uconn.edu.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cuevas
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giles
mesh_terms: D001244:Association; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D014163:Transfer, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: association; deferred imitation; ecological niche; human infants; latent learning; sensory preconditioning