How the individual sensory modalities relate to one another and how their functions are integrated during development has been the subject of increasing research attention. Studies that manipulate the amount, type, or timing of sensory experience over prenatal and early postnatal development are, however, difficult to undertake with human infants and a comparative approach utilizing animal embryos and infants offers a useful and important step in experimentally examining such issues. Recent evidence derived from precocial avian embryos and neonates has demonstrated that prenatal stimulation in one sensory modality can influence responsiveness to stimulation in other sensory modalities, showing the strong link between the modalities during early development. The bases for these effects remains unexplored. The primary goal of this proposed research is to identify the roles played by unimodal and multimodal sensory stimulation in the emergence and maintenance of early intersensory perception. Nine experiments utilizing precocial avian embryos and hatchlings are proposed that examine the roles of embryonic arousal and attention in early intersensory responsiveness, assess the role of intersensory redundancy in the perceptual learning of embryos and hatchlings, investigate the role of amodal temporal and spatial stimulus properties in the detection and processing of multimodal stimulation, and assess the features of social interaction that foster the emergence of intersensory functioning. The findings of the proposed research will provide basic behavioral data on the experiential processes that underlie perinatal intersensory perception, contribute to a better understanding of the complex relationship between prenatal and postnatal ontogeny, and provide an important source of comparative data for the research projects of Bahrick, Mundy, and Rochat concerned with intersensory development in the human infant.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH062225-02
Application #
6392887
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-NRB-R (04))
Program Officer
Kurtzman, Howard S
Project Start
2000-05-01
Project End
2001-08-09
Budget Start
2001-05-01
Budget End
2001-08-09
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$1
Indirect Cost
Name
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
003137015
City
Blacksburg
State
VA
Country
United States
Zip Code
24061
Schneider, Susan M; Lickliter, Robert (2010) Operant generalization in quail neonates after intradimensional training: Distinguishing positive and negative reinforcement. Behav Processes 83:1-7
Schneider, Susan M; Lickliter, Robert (2009) Operant generalization of auditory tempo in quail neonates. Psychon Bull Rev 16:145-9
Markham, Rebecca G; Shimizu, Toru; Lickliter, Robert (2008) Extrinsic embryonic sensory stimulation alters multimodal behavior and cellular activation. Dev Neurobiol 68:1463-73
Harshaw, Christopher; Lickliter, Robert (2007) Interactive and vicarious acquisition of auditory preferences in Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) chicks. J Comp Psychol 121:320-31
Lazic, Maria; Schneider, Susan M; Lickliter, Robert (2007) Enriched rearing facilitates spatial exploration in northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) neonates. Dev Psychobiol 49:548-51
Jaime, Mark; Lickliter, Robert (2006) Prenatal exposure to temporal and spatial stimulus properties affects postnatal responsiveness to spatial contiguity in bobwhite quail chicks. Dev Psychobiol 48:233-42
Markham, Rebecca G; Toth, Gabriella; Lickliter, Robert (2006) Prenatally elevated physiological arousal interferes with perceptual learning in bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) embryos. Behav Neurosci 120:1315-25
Lickliter, Robert; Bahrick, Lorraine E; Markham, Rebecca G (2006) Intersensory redundancy educates selective attention in bobwhite quail embryos. Dev Sci 9:604-15
Bahrick, Lorraine E; Lickliter, Robert (2004) Infants' perception of rhythm and tempo in unimodal and multimodal stimulation: a developmental test of the intersensory redundancy hypothesis. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 4:137-47
Reynolds, Greg D; Lickliter, Robert (2004) Modified prenatal sensory stimulation influences postnatal behavioral and perceptual responsiveness in bobwhite quail chicks (Colinus virginianus). J Comp Psychol 118:172-8

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