Summer school1 Lecture 3. Representation close to the sensory surface (or Piaget was right)

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Lecture 3. Representation close to the sensory surface(or Piaget was right)

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Jean Piaget

Cognitive development as a progressive differentiation of intelligence from sensory-motor processes, as a moving away from the here and now of perceiving and acting.

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Jean Piaget

To Piaget, the A not-B error was important because it showed how immature thought was tied to the sensory-motor surface

The A not-B error - an example of sensori-motor intelligence

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A trials

The A not B error in 8 to 10 month olds

A not-B error

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A trials

The A not B error

A not-B error

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A trials

The A not B errorA 3 to 5 second delay

A not-B error

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A trials

The A not B error

This is repeated 4 - 6 times

A not-B error

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B trials

The A not B error

A not-B error

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B trials

The A not B error3 - 5 sec delay

A not-B error

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B trials

The A not B taskThe A not B error: an error of spatial perseveration

A not-B error

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Jean Piaget

For Piaget, the error reflected an inabilityto represent objects independently of their sensory-motor interactions with those objects (a lack of theso-called object concept).

For the infant the mental object is inseparable from the location of bodily actions.

Piaget was right, it is a sensory-motor representation, a sensory-motor form of intelligence, that underlies the error

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The error reveals a fundamental aspect about all of human cognition

about how human cognition is grounded --through the sensory-motor system --to the physical world

functional, effective, human cognition -- no matter how abstract, no matter how advanced it becomes --

is tied to here-and-now reality, through perception and action

reality-based cognition

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The plan:

1. Overview of a dynamic systems account of the A not-B error2. How right Piaget was: this is sensory-motor thought3. How these same processes are generally fundamental to human

cognition, how early word learners link names to things4. Grounding and intelligence that transcends the here and now5. Extension of the dynamic systems model to the grounding of word

learning

reality-based cognition

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Dynamic systems accounts attempt to explain real time behavior as it happens in a task

•Smith, Thelen, Titzer & McLin (1999) Knowing in the context of reaching: The task dynamics of the A-not-B error. Psychological Review, 106, 235-260.•Thelen, Schoner, Scheier, & Smith (2001) The dynamics of embodiment: A field theory of infant perseverative reaching. Target article, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 24, 1-86.•Spencer, Smith, & Thelen (2001) Tests of a dynamic systems account of the A-not-B error: The influence of prior experience on the spatial memory abilities of two-year-olds. Child Development, 72, 1327-1346.•Smith & Thelen (2003) Development as a dynamic system. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7, 343-348.•Smith, L. B. (2005) Cognition as a dynamic system: Principles from embodiment. Developmental Review•Clearfield, M. W., Diedrich, F. J., Smith, L. B., & Thelen, E. (2006). Young infants reach correctly in A-not-B tasks: On the development of stability and perseveration. Infant Behavior & Development, 29(3), 435-444. •Smith, Spencer & Samuelson (in preparation) The role of space in binding names to things.•Smith, Clearfield, Diedrich & Thelen (in preparation). Piaget was right: representation close to the sensory surface.

Dynamic Field Model

An account in terms of performance, motor plans,reaching to locations in visual space

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Dynamic systems accounts attempt to explain real time behavior as it happens in a task

Dynamic Field Model

An account in terms of performance, motor plans,reaching to locations in visual space

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A transient visual event instigates a goal to reach

A task analysis of reaching to a location in space

Dynamic Field Model

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Persistent visual cues that direct and distract the reach direction

Dynamic Field Model

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Memories for recent reaches

Dynamic Field Model

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The body’s position at the moment of the reach

Dynamic Field Model

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Transient inputs

Tonic inputs

Memories for past actionsand events

The body’s position

TIME

acti

vati

on

space

The dynamic field model

A movement planning field

Dynamic Field Model

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time

A B

Task input Specific input

Generate reach plan

Dynamic Field Model

Memory for just previous reaches.

The lids on the table The hiding event

The activity in the movement planning field is driven by two sensory fields and by a motor memory

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The time evolution of activation in the planning field on the first A trial.The activation rises as the object is hidden and, owing to self-organizing propertiesin the field, is sustained during the delay.

The time evolution of activation inthe planning field on the first B trial. There is heightened activation at A before the hiding event, owing to memory for prior reaches. As the object is hidden at B, activation rises at B, but as this transient event ends, owing to the memory propertiesof the field, activation at A declines and that at B rises.

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Children make the error because their memory for the desired object is realized in the processes that plan (and remember) spatially directed action -- because the object (in this task) is bound to the location of action.

Piaget is right

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Jean Piaget

Objects represented in terms of sensory-motor interactions, in terms of bodily actions in space.

Piaget is right

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The plan:

1. Overview of a dynamic systems account2. How right Piaget was: this is sensory-motor thought3. How these same processes are generally fundamental to human


learning

Piaget is right

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8 to 10 month olds6 A trials, 2 B trials3 sec delay

at the sensory surface

A not-B experiments with infants

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Claim 1: The processes that remember objects and create the error are processes tied to acting in space

general processes of visually directed action


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No hidden object

embedded in the processes that keep track of even in-view objects, embedded in the processes that take a hand to that object’s location in space

The A not B error with no hidden object!


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time

A B

Task inputThe lids on the

table

Specific inputThe hiding

event

Generate reach plan

Memory is carried over to the next trial.

Claim 2: The visual events in the task drive the activations in the motor planning field and in so doing create the error


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Increasing the attention-grabbing properties during the hiding of A increases the error; increasing the potency of the B hiding event decreases the error

We can make the error come and go at will by manipulating onlythese aspects

The error is a blend of (a competition between) the strength of the more immediate memory of the B event and the memory for just previous events (and actions) at A

The specific input (the hiding event, the transient cue that signals the target):


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Increasing the attention-grabbing properties of the persistently presentvisual input increases and decreases the likelihood of the error

We can make the error increase by increasing the salience of the A lid,And make it decrease by increasing the salience of the B lid

The error is a blend --an integration -- of the memory for the specific input (the hiding event), the persistent visual cues (the lids on the table), and previous actions

The task input (tonic persistent cues, the lids)


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time

A B

Task inputThe lids on the

table

Specific inputThe hiding

event

Generate reach plan

Memory is carried over to the next trial.

Claim 3: The decision field is continuously coupled to the world through the body


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From the baby’s view


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Pulling attention to the left --midreach -- pulls the reach to to the left; pulling attention to the right -- midreach-- pulls the reach to the right.


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Where the infant searches for the object is tied to where the infant looks, to the spatial orientation of the body, and that orientation is tightly tied to the events in the world


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Claim 4: The processes that remember objects, actions, locations in space --and that tie them to one another -- are very much in the language of the body


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A sensory-motor intelligence

A trials (6 trials): SIT B trials (2 trials): STAND

SIT TO STANDSTAND TO SITSIT-SIT VISUAL DISTRACTION BETWEEN A AND BSTAND-STAND (visual distraction)

NO ERROR!

THE USUAL ERROR


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The processes that keep track of objects in space are tightly tied to the body’s position in space


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Perturbing babies’ bodies between A and B trials: Wrist weights (to both arms)

error

error

NO ERROR

NO ERROR

A trials B trials

No weight No weight

100% arm weight 100% arm weight

No weight 100% arm weight

100% arm weight No weight

Control

Exp.

*

*the experimenter pretended to put weights on/off between A and the B trials


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The memories that make the error --that tie objects to locations -- take place in the processes that plan action such that a change in posture or a change in the feel of the arm resets those plans and those memories.


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Jean Piaget

Piaget was right


the object is represented in the infant’s own perceptions and actions

close to the sensory surface, through bodily interactions in space

This is not just about immaturity, it is a fundamental truth about all of human cognition

This is sensory-motor intelligence -- .

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The plan:



learning

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Word learning

Children say their first word by 12 months

By 18 months 100 wordsBy 24 months 300 wordsBy 36 months 1500 wordsBy 48 months 4000 words

Binding names to things

The processes that bind actions, objects, and locations (and make the A not-B error) also bind names to things

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The phenomenon (Baldwin, 1993):

Very young word learners (20 month olds)map names to objects even when those names and objects are experienced separated in time.


summer school 45Binding names to things

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MODI!

Where is the modi?

TimeBinding names to things

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MODI!

Time

Linked by space

Where is the modi?

Spa

ce


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A trial B trial

time

Children reach and look to locations to interact with objects and objects become bound to those actions and locations, creating an error

A not-B


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time

There is a modiin here

Look at this


Children reach and look to locations to interact with objects. If -- as in the A not-B task --objects become bound to those locations of action, can children be using those locations to solve Baldwin’s task, to map a name to a thing?


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Claim 1. It’s about space.

If children link the name to the object through a spatial location, weakening the link between the object and its location `should weaken children’s ability to map the name to the intended referent.


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Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3: MODI

Step 4:

Step 5:

No switch

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3: MODI

Step 4:

Step 5:

Switch

Step 6:

Where is the modi?

Step 6:

Where is the modi?

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Design:

•18 to 20 months of age (n = 24)•half in Switch condition half in No Switch condition•Side of target and target object counterbalanced

Results: No switch (consistent spatial cue) 73%Switch (less consistent spatial cue) 46%


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In the task, children are learning about the relations between objects and theirlocations in space and using this relation to map a not present object to the name.


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Claim 2. It is not specifically about hidden objects

If children use the body’s direction of attention to bind the name to thing, then the buckets -- and the ruse of hiding objects and naming things inside them-- should be irrelevant.


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Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Step 3: MODIPoint to spoton table andsay “Modi”

Step 6:

Where is the modi?

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Design:

•children 19 to 20 months (n = 16)•4 test trials•Side labeled/target object counterbalanced

across children

Results:

71% of the time chose the spatiallylinked object


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This tells us the phenomenon is notabout hidden objects.

Rather, it may be about how objects, actions, and locations are bound --and thus remembered -- together.


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Claim 3. It’s really about the body’s direction of attention.


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Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Step 3: MODIClick to the leftand say “Modi”

Step 6:

Where is the modi?

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If it is the body’s direction of attention that matters --and not a specific location in space-- pulling attention generally to the left during the naming event should activate memories for the object seen on the left and the name should be linked to that object.


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Design:

•children 19 to 20 months (n = 16)•Half the subjects click to right/half click to left•4 test trials

Results:

68% of the time chose the spatiallylinked object


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It is not a location per se, but where one looks, real time perception and action.


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Claim 4. Its about integrating over space and time


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Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 6:

Where is the modi?

A not-B error in mapping names

Step 5: MODI

Step 3:

Step 4:

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Input at the momentof naming

Memories for objectsrecently bound to that direction of attention

Infant’s actions in space at that moment

MODI

On the leftLook left


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Results (chose the temporally linked object)

40%

16 children (18 to 20 months)

Side of target and target object counterbalanced


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The prior experience of seeing one object consistently on the left, disrupted linkinga name to a different but physically present object when attention was directed to the left.

Where one looks, selects and activatesmemories, enabling one to bind events in the just previous past to those in the present.


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Claim 6. Close to the sensory surface

A posture shift experiment


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Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 4: MODI

Step 3: Stand up!

Posture shift

Step 5:

Where is the modi?

5 sec delay

While sitting

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Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 4: MODI

Step 3: Stand up!

Posture shift

Step 2:

Step 4: MODI

Step 3: Visual distraction and clapping

No Posture shift

Step 5:

Where is the modi?

Step 5:

Where is the modi?

Step 1:

5 sec delay5 sec delay

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Results:posture shift: 50% (chance)visual distraction: 70% (target choice)

The memory for the object is inprocesses tightly tied to the body’s orientation in space

Stand-standSit-SitSit-StandStand-Sit


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1. The processes that make the A not-B error show a sensory-motor intelligence, a grounding of cognition in perception and action, an in-the-moment product of the body’s spatial interaction in a physical world.

2. The processes that make the error also do real cognitive work beyond infancy. They are not even specific to the A not-B error, to a deficit in intelligence, but are instead fundamental to how human cognition is grounded to reality -- in the moment -- through perceiving and acting.

In the world through our bodies

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The plan:



learning

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Jean Piaget

Cognitive development as a progressive differentiation of intelligence from sensory-motor processes, as a moving away from the here and now of perceiving and acting.

Grounded and transcendent

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Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3: MODI

Step 4:

Step 5:

Step 6:

Where is the modi?

Using space to bind the nameto the thing, but then the linktranscends location in space

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In the here and now, through perceiving and acting, children naturally link

the object and the direction of attention while seeing it

the word and the direction of attention while hearing it

Rea

l tim

e an

d sp

ace

C

ogni

tion

The word bound to the object

Grounded and transcendent

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The plan:



learning

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A dynamic field model:

Words-space field

Word-Object field

Dynamic fields coupled in real time

Object-space field The dynamics of the fields operate just as in the motor planning field; activation risesand falls in real time, as a consequence of sensory input, sensori-motor memories, and the cooperativity (lateral inhibition and excitation)in the fields

Coupled -- activation in each field drives activation in the others

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An object-space field

Different objects Spatial location

Act

ivat

ion

This point corresponds to an attended object at a particular location

The object-spacefield is a sensory-motor field.It represents attention to an object at a location

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An word-space field

Tthe word-spacefield is a sensory-motor field.It represents a word and the locationof attention when the word is heard

Different words

Act

ivat

ion

Spatial location

This point corresponds to a word heard whileattending to aa particular location

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An object-word field

This is an associationfield. The object-wordfield binds an object toa word.

Act

ivat

ion

Different objects Different wordsAct

ivat

ion

This point corresponds to a word andthe object to which it refers.There is no representation of space in this field.

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

a flower

drivenby the input

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

a flower

The activationin the Word-Objectis driven byby the activation in the other two fields

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

a flower

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

a flower

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

a flower

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

a flower

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

a flower

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

a flower

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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MODI!

Time

Spa

ce


Where is the modi?

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

“Look, look at this”

Input driven

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object


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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object


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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object


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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object


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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object


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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object


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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object


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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object


ridges of activationof activation corresponding to the object and locationbut no word

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The field maintains a memory of the binoculars at that location

Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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“Look, look a this”

Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

ridges of activationof activation corresponding to the object and locationbut no word

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The field remembers the activations associated with thetwo objects and their respective directions of attention

Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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The experimenter directs attention to a location and says “Modi’”

Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

memory

Inputdriven

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

Modi!

A mapping in the word-object field, even though the wordand object were not experienced together

An inferencemade through attention in space

but no longer linked to space

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Memory for objects, locations, and word -- and the associations between them.

Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Where is the modi?

Objects at new locations for test

Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Where is the modi?Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Word-Space

Word-Object

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Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

Modi!

Attention should be directed toward and the child should choose the intended referent

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Object-Space

Word-Space

Word-Object

Modi!

Attention should be directed toward and the child should choose the intended referent

Solving the reference problemBinding cognitive contents to each other

with space

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the processes that transcend the here and now --

are made in and realized through the here and now of perceiving and acting

From real time processes to cognition

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The A not B error is not about immaturity, but rather revealing of a deep truth

about how human cognition is grounded in

and transcends the here and now

through a sensory-motor system

bound in time and spaceto the physical world

Piaget was right

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the [sensory-motor] interaction unites the organism to the environment and which…. is so close and direct that objects exist in that sensory-motor interaction

The construction of reality in the child

In the world through our bodies


are needed to see this picture.Melissa ClearfieldFred DiedrichLarissa SamuelsonAdam SheyaGregor SchonerJohn SpencerEsther Thelen

NIMH and NICHHD

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Summer school1 Lecture 3. Representation close to the sensory surface (or Piaget was right)