(Press-News.org) Infants develop a fear of heights as a result of their experiences moving around their environments, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Learning to avoid cliffs, ledges, and other precipitous hazards is essential to survival and yet human infants don't show an early wariness of heights.
As soon as human babies begin to crawl and scoot, they enter a phase during which they'll go over the edge of a bed, a changing table, or even the top of a staircase. In fact, research shows that when infants are placed near a virtual drop-off -- a glass-covered table that reveals the floor beneath -- they seem to be enthralled by the drop-off, not fearful of it.
It's not until later in infancy, at around 9 months, that infants show fear and avoidance of such drop-offs. And research suggests that infants' experiences with falls don't account for the shift, nor does the development of depth perception.
Psychological scientists Audun Dahl, Joseph Campos, David Anderson, and Ichiro Uchiyama of the University of California, Berkeley, and Doshisha University, Kyoto, wondered whether locomotor experience might be the key to developing a wariness of heights.
The researchers randomly assigned some babies to receive training in using a powered baby go-cart, providing them with locomotor experience, while other babies received no such training. Critically, none of the babies had begun to crawl.
The data revealed that infants who used the baby go-cart showed tell-tale increases in heart rate when confronted with the virtual drop-off, indicating that they were fearful; infants in the control condition did not show such increases.
What about locomotor experience brings about the wariness? The data showed that, as they gain locomotor experience, infants come to rely more on visual information about how their movement is controlled relative to the environment. At the edge of a drop-off, much of this information is lost, thereby making the locomoting infants (and adults) wary.
"These new findings indicate that infants do not follow a maturational script, but depend on quite specific experiences to bring about a developmental change," note the researchers.
As such, infants who are delayed in locomotor experience -- whether for neurological, cultural, or medical reasons -- are likely to be delayed in showing avoidance of heights.
Since the avoidance of heights ultimately helps to keep us alive, why doesn't it kick in sooner?
The researchers surmise that a period of fearlessness may encourage infants to explore their environment, helping them develop movement strategies and learn how to adapt to terrain.
"Paradoxically, a tendency to explore risky situations may be one of the driving forces behind skills development," the researchers write.
INFORMATION:
Video from the Campos lab of an infant in the virtual dropoff paradigm: http://babycenter.berkeley.edu/VideoClips/Baby1-%20Deep.mov.MPG
Additional co-authors on the research include Mika Ueno of Doshisha University; David C. Wetherington of the Unviersity of New Mexico; Laure Poutrain-Lejeune of Universite de Caen Basse-Normandie; and Marianne Barbuu-Roth of Universite Paris-Descartes.
This research was supported by grants from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant KAKENHI-22330191), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Nationals Institutes of Health (Grants HD-07181, HD-07323, HD-25066, HD-36795, and HD-39925), and that National Science Foundation (Grants SBR-9 1 16 15 1, BCS-0002001, and BSC-0958241), by a fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and by a Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions award from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (Award No. P20 MD00262)
For more information about this study, please contact: Audun Dahl at dahl@berkeley.edu.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "The Epigenesis of Wariness of Heights" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
How do babies learn to be wary of heights?
2013-07-24
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Are Christians becoming more 'green'?
2013-07-24
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Despite the wide-held perception that Christians have become more concerned about the environment, new research finds this so-called "greening of Christianity" is not evident among the religious rank-and-file.
According to the Michigan State University-led study, Christians report lower levels of environmental concern than non-Christians and non-religious individuals. More than 75 percent of Americans are affiliated with a Christian denomination.
"The results suggest this presumed greening of Christianity has not yet translated into a significant ...
Novel gene target shows promise for bladder cancer detection and treatment
2013-07-24
Scientists from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have provided evidence from preclinical experiments that a gene known as melanoma differentiation associated gene-9/syntenin (mda-9/syntenin) could be used as a therapeutic target to kill bladder cancer cells, help prevent metastasis and even be used to non-invasively diagnose the disease and monitor its progression.
The study, published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, was a collaborative effort between Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D., who originally discovered the mda-9/syntenin gene, and Santanu ...
New NIST nanoscale indenter takes novel approach to measuring surface properties
2013-07-24
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of North Carolina have demonstrated a new design for an instrument, a "instrumented nanoscale indenter," that makes sensitive measurements of the mechanical properties of thin films -- ranging from auto body coatings to microelectronic devices -- and biomaterials. The NIST instrument uses a unique technique for precisely measuring the depth of the indentation in a test surface with no contact of the surface other than the probe tip itself.*
Nanoindenter head
Indenters have a ...
Fidaxomicin: Data subsequently submitted by manufacturer prove added benefit
2013-07-24
In the commenting procedure on early benefit assessment pursuant to the German Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), under certain circumstances drug manufacturers may submit to the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) additional documents for dossiers. The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has now assessed such additional information for two studies comparing the antibiotic fidaxomicin, which is used for diarrhoea caused by Clostridium difficile infections, with vancomycin.
In contrast to the first dossier assessment, the ...
A magnetic pen for smartphones adds another level of conveniences
2013-07-24
Daejeon, Republic of Korea, July 24, 2013 – A doctoral candidate at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) developed a magnetically driven pen interface that works both on and around mobile devices. This interface, called the MagPen, can be used for any type of smartphones and tablet computers so long as they have magnetometers embedded in.
Advised by Professor Kwang-yun Wohn of the Graduate School of Culture Technology (GSCT) at KAIST, Sungjae Hwang, a Ph.D. student, created the MagPen in collaboration with Myung-Wook Ahn, a master's student ...
Solar system's youth gives clues to planet search
2013-07-24
Washington, D.C.—Comets and meteorites contain clues to our solar system's earliest days. But some of the findings are puzzle pieces that don't seem to fit well together. A new set of theoretical models from Carnegie's Alan Boss shows how an outburst event in the Sun's formative years could explain some of this disparate evidence. His work could have implications for the hunt for habitable planets outside of our solar system. It is published by The Astrophysical Journal.
One way to study the solar system's formative period is to look for samples of small crystalline particles ...
An evolutionary compromise for long tooth preservation
2013-07-24
This news release is available in German. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, have conducted stress analyses on gorilla teeth of differing wear stages. Their findings show that different features of the occlusal surface antagonize tensile stresses in the tooth to tooth contact during the chewing process. They further show that tooth wear with its loss of dental tissue and the reduction of the occlusal relief decreases tensile stresses in the ...
New study reveals dangers to biological diversity from global cashmere garment industry
2013-07-24
A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Snow Leopard Trust reveals a disturbing link between the cashmere trade and the decay of ecosystems that support some of the planet's most spectacular yet little-known large mammals.
The study finds that as pastoralists expand goat herds to increase profits for the cashmere trade in Western markets, wildlife icons from the Tibetan Plateau to Mongolia suffer – including endangered snow leopard, wild yak, chiru, saiga, Bactrian camel, gazelles, and other remarkable but already endangered species of remote Central Asia. ...
Pressurized virus blasts its infectious DNA into human cells
2013-07-24
The virus that causes those painful lip blisters known as cold sores has an internal pressure eight times higher than a car tire, and uses it to literally blast its infectious DNA into human cells, scientists are reporting in a new study. Discovery of the pressure-driven infection mechanism — the first in a human virus — opens the door to new treatments for viral infections, they add in a study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Alex Evilevitch and colleagues point out that the viruses responsible for influenza, AIDS and other infections that affect millions ...
Dark chocolate lovers show higher tolerance for bitterness in chocolate ice cream
2013-07-24
Philadelphia, PA, July 24, 2013 – To make the inherent bitterness of cocoa in chocolate ice cream more palatable, manufacturers add high levels of fat and sugar. Yet, bitterness is an integral part of the complex flavor of chocolate. In a new study published in the August issue of the Journal of Dairy Science®, investigators report that consumers who prefer dark chocolate in solid form tolerate twice the amount of bitter ingredients in chocolate ice cream than those who prefer milk chocolate. Elimination of some added sugar and fats in chocolate ice cream may be acceptable, ...