Abstract
Developmental body topography, particularly of the face, is a fundamental research topic in the current decade. However, empirical investigation of this topic for very young children faces a number of difficulties related to the task requirements and technical procedures. In this study, we developed a new task to study the spatially-sensed position of facial parts in a self-face recognition task for 2.5- and 3.5-year-old children. Using the technique of augmented reality (AR) and 3D face tracking technology, we presented participants with their projected self-image on a screen, accompanied by a digital mark located on parts of their face. We prepared a cheerful visual and auditory reward on the screen when participants showed correct localization of the mark. We then tested whether they could indicate the position of the mark on their own faces and remain motivated for task repetition. To assess the efficacy of this task, 31 2.5- and 11 3.5-year-old children participated in this study. About half of the 2.5-year-olds and 80% of the 3.5-year-olds could perform more than 30 trials. Our new task, then, was to maintain young children’s motivation for task repetition using the cheerful visual and auditory reward. The analysis of localization errors suggested the uniqueness of spatial knowledge of self-face in young children. The efficacy of this new task for studying the development of body image has been confirmed.
Highlights
Children begin to learn about their own bodies from early in life
We found that accuracy of face localization did not correlate with the word acquisition of body parts
The analyses, which comprised combined multiple measurements such as error position of initial touch, relative distance from the target position, and RT, helped us to reveal the characteristics of face topography in young children
Summary
Children begin to learn about their own bodies from early in life. They learn several methods for body representation and organize these representations among various modalities, including names of body parts (semantic or conceptual), body topography (spatial or structural), and body schema (somatosensory or controllability; Schwoebel and Coslett, 2005). From the age of 2 years, children draw ‘‘tadpole humans’’ that typically consist of circles with some facial features, representing the head as well as the body (Freeman, 1975; Cox, 2013) Another interesting behavior is called the scale error (Deloache et al, 2004), whereby, after playing with a body-sized large toy car, young children aged around 2 years may attempt to enter and drive a miniature toy car ignoring their body size. In Miyazaki and Hiraki’s experiment, participants initially attempted to localize a target on the rear of their heads, even though it was placed on their forehead, an error that was observed in over one-third of the 2-year-old participants These behaviors suggest that young children may have specific and immature body representation(s)
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