Different Gestalt processing for different actions? Comparing object-directed reaching and looking time measures

Six experiments compared the Gestalt processing that mediates infant reaching and looking behaviors. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the positioning and timing of 8- and 9-month-olds' reaching was influenced by remembered relative motion. Experiment 2 suggested that a visible gap, without this relative motion, was not sufficient to produce these effects. Experiment 3 found that 6- and 7-month-olds required both remembered relative motion and a continuously visible gap to affect reaching; when two separate objects were placed adjacent to one another, they were treated as though they were connected. Experiments 4 and 5, using a looking time measure, identified a dissociation between looking and reaching performance. In Experiment 6, 6- and 7-month-olds' reaching was influenced when display parts differed in shape and color. In these experiments, Gestalt processing for looking was more influenced by remembered information than was Gestalt processing for reaching. For reaching, a low weighting of separation cues was also apparent.

六项实验对比了介导婴儿伸手与注视行为的格式塔（Gestalt）加工过程。实验1证实，8至9个月龄婴儿的伸手动作的定位与时机，会受到记忆相对运动的影响。实验2表明，仅存在可见间隙而无该相对运动时，不足以产生此类效应。实验3发现，6至7个月龄婴儿需要同时依赖记忆相对运动与持续可见的间隙，才会使其伸手行为受到影响；当两个独立物体彼此相邻放置时，它们会被视作一个连通整体。实验4与5采用注视时长测量法，揭示了注视与伸手表现之间的分离现象。实验6中，6至7个月龄婴儿的伸手动作会因刺激部件的形状与颜色差异而受到影响。综合上述实验可见，用于注视加工的格式塔加工，相较于用于伸手加工的格式塔加工，更易受记忆信息的影响；而在伸手加工中，分离线索的权重也明显偏低。