Recent work with both avian and mammalian infants has demonstrated that the sequential onset of functioning of the various sensory systems during prenatal development can serve as an important source of perceptual organization during the perinatal period. For example, evidence derived from precocial avian embryos and hatchlings indicates that unusually early (prenatal) visual experience can alter the normal functioning of both the auditory and visual systems during the postnatal period. However, the processes and mechanisms underlying this dynamic nature of early perceptual organization and the specific intramodal and intermodal consequences of such premature visual experience has only begun to be explicitly studied. In this application, research is proposed that will further our understanding of how sensory systems and their respective stimulation histories influence one another during late prenatal and early postnatal development, in order to establish how usual (or abnormal) sensory experiences serve to maintain, facilitate, or interfere with the usual course of perinatal intersensory development. Related studies, utilizing precocial avian embryos and hatchlings, will employ an """"""""early exposure"""""""" design to examine: (I) what experiential factors determine whether modified sensory stimulation facilitates or interferes with early intrasensory and intersensory development, (2) the nature of the relationship between amount, type, and modality of sensory stimulation during the perinatal period, (3) the roles of embryonic attention and behavioral arousal in the development of early perceptual organization, and (4) how transient or long-lasting are the effects of modified prenatal sensory stimulation for precocial infants. From a health perspective, this research will provide an important source of comparative data for work concerned with intersensory development in the human infant. Relatively little attention has been paid to the consequences of providing sensory experience earlier in development than when it would normally be available, despite the fact that prematurely born human infants are routinely exposed to patterned visual stimulation at a developmental age when they would not ordinarily encounter such visual experience.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01MH048949-04A2
Application #
2248503
Study Section
Psychobiology, Behavior, and Neuroscience Review Committee (PBN)
Project Start
1991-05-01
Project End
2000-07-31
Budget Start
1995-08-01
Budget End
1996-07-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1995
Total Cost
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
Honeycutt, H; Lickliter, R (2001) Order-dependent timing of unimodal and multimodal stimulation affects prenatal auditory learning in bobwhite quail embryos. Dev Psychobiol 38:1-10
Lickliter, R (2000) The role of sensory stimulation in perinatal development: insights from comparative research for care of the high-risk infant. J Dev Behav Pediatr 21:437-47
Lickliter, R; Bahrick, L E (2000) The development of infant intersensory perception: advantages of a comparative convergent-operations approach. Psychol Bull 126:260-80
Bahrick, L E; Lickliter, R (2000) Intersensory redundancy guides attentional selectivity and perceptual learning in infancy. Dev Psychol 36:190-201
Carlsen, R; Lickliter, R (1999) Augmented prenatal tactile and vestibular stimulation alters postnatal auditory and visual responsiveness in bobwhite quail chicks. Dev Psychobiol 35:215-25
Columbus, R F; Lickliter, R (1998) Modified sensory features of social stimulation alter the perceptual responsiveness of bobwhite quail chicks (Colinus virginianus). J Comp Psychol 112:161-9
Sleigh, M J; Columbus, R F; Lickliter, R (1998) Intersensory experience and early perceptual development: postnatal experience with multimodal maternal cues affects intersensory responsiveness in bobwhite quail chicks. Dev Psychol 34:215-23
Casey, M B; Lickliter, R (1998) Prenatal visual experience influences the development of turning bias in bobwhite quail chicks (Colinus virginianus). Dev Psychobiol 32:327-38
McBride, T; Lickliter, R (1994) Specific postnatal auditory stimulation interferes with species-typical visual responsiveness in bobwhite quail chicks. Dev Psychobiol 27:169-83
Banker, H; Lickliter, R (1993) Effects of early and delayed visual experience on intersensory development in bobwhite quail chicks. Dev Psychobiol 26:155-70

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