title: Visual information from observing grasping movement in allocentric and egocentric perspectives: development in typical children.
abstract: Development of the motor system lags behind that of the visual system and might delay some visual properties more closely linked to action. We measured the developmental trajectory of the discrimination of object size from observation of the biological motion of a grasping action in egocentric and allocentric viewpoints (observing action of others or self), in children and adolescents from 5 to 18 years of age. Children of 5-7 years of age performed the task at chance, indicating a delayed ability to understand the goal of the action. We found a progressive improvement in the ability of discrimination from 9 to 18 years, which parallels the development of fine motor control. Only after 9 years of age did we observe an advantage for the egocentric view, as previously reported for adults. Given that visual and haptic sensitivity of size discrimination, as well as biological motion, are mature in early adolescence, we interpret our results as reflecting immaturity of the influence of the motor system on visual perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tinelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Pisa, Italy.|Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cioni
authors.affiliation: Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, via Morego 30, 16163, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sandini
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.|Fondazione Stella Maris Mediterraneo, Chiaromonte, Potenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turi
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Pisa, Italy. concetta@in.cnr.it.|Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. concetta@in.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Maria Concetta
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Morrone
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D056228:Feedback, Sensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Allocentric perspective; Biological motion; Children; Egocentric perspective; Grasping; Size perception