TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gumbsch, Christian
A1  - Adam, Maurits
A1  - Elsner, Birgit
A1  - Butz, Martin V.
T1  - Emergent goal-anticipatory gaze in infants via event-predictive learning and inference
JF  - Cognitive science
N2  - From about 7 months of age onward, infants start to reliably fixate the goal of an observed action, such as a grasp, before the action is complete. The available research has identified a variety of factors that influence such goal-anticipatory gaze shifts, including the experience with the shown action events and familiarity with the observed agents. However, the underlying cognitive processes are still heavily debated. We propose that our minds (i) tend to structure sensorimotor dynamics into probabilistic, generative event-predictive, and event boundary predictive models, and, meanwhile, (ii) choose actions with the objective to minimize predicted uncertainty. We implement this proposition by means of event-predictive learning and active inference. The implemented learning mechanism induces an inductive, event-predictive bias, thus developing schematic encodings of experienced events and event boundaries. The implemented active inference principle chooses actions by aiming at minimizing expected future uncertainty. We train our system on multiple object-manipulation events. As a result, the generation of goal-anticipatory gaze shifts emerges while learning about object manipulations: the model starts fixating the inferred goal already at the start of an observed event after having sampled some experience with possible events and when a familiar agent (i.e., a hand) is involved. Meanwhile, the model keeps reactively tracking an unfamiliar agent (i.e., a mechanical claw) that is performing the same movement. We qualitatively compare these modeling results to behavioral data of infants and conclude that event-predictive learning combined with active inference may be critical for eliciting goal-anticipatory gaze behavior in infants.
KW  - Infancy
KW  - Goal-anticipatory gaze
KW  - Computational model
KW  - Event cognition
KW  - Active inference
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13016
SN  - 1551-6709
VL  - 45
IS  - 8
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Malden, Mass.
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Adam, Maurits
A1  - Reitenbach, Ivanina
A1  - Papenmeier, Frank
A1  - Gredebäck, Gustaf
A1  - Elsner, Claudia
A1  - Elsner, Birgit
T1  - actions, but not for mechanical claws
JF  - Meteoritics & planetary science : journal of the Meteoritical Society
N2  - Previous research indicates that infants’ prediction of the goals of observed actions is influenced by own experience with the type of agent performing the action (i.e., human hand vs. non-human agent) as well as by action-relevant features of goal objects (e.g., object size). The present study investigated the combined effects of these factors on 12-month-olds’ action prediction. Infants’ (N = 49) goal-directed gaze shifts were recorded as they observed 14 trials in which either a human hand or a mechanical claw reached for a small goal area (low-saliency goal) or a large goal area (high-saliency goal). Only infants who had observed the human hand reaching for a high-saliency goal fixated the goal object ahead of time, and they rapidly learned to predict the action goal across trials. By contrast, infants in all other conditions did not track the observed action in a predictive manner, and their gaze shifts to the action goal did not change systematically across trials. Thus, high-saliency goals seem to boost infants’ predictive gaze shifts during the observation of human manual actions, but not of actions performed by a mechanical device. This supports the assumption that infants’ action predictions are based on interactive effects of action-relevant object features (e.g., size) and own action experience.
KW  - Infancy
KW  - Goal saliency
KW  - Anticipatory gaze shifts
KW  - Eye tracking
KW  - Action processing
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2016.05.001
SN  - 0163-6383
SN  - 1879-0453
VL  - 44
SP  - 29
EP  - 37
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Adam, Maurits
A1  - Elsner, Birgit
T1  - Action effects foster 11-month-olds’ prediction of action goals for a non-human agent
JF  - Infant behavior & development : an international and interdisciplinary journal
N2  - Action effects have been stated to be important for infants’ processing of goal-directed actions. In this study, 11-month-olds showed equally fast predictive gaze shifts to a claw’s action goal when the grasping action was presented either with three agency cues (self-propelled movement, equifinality of goal achievement and a salient action effect) or with only a salient action effect, but infants showed tracking gaze when the claw showed only self-propelled movement and equifinality of goal achievement. The results suggest that action effects, compared to purely kinematic cues, seem to be especially important for infants' online processing of goal-directed actions.
KW  - Infancy
KW  - Eye tracking
KW  - Goal anticipation
KW  - Action effects
KW  - Agency cues
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.09.002
SN  - 0163-6383
SN  - 1879-0453
VL  - 53
SP  - 49
EP  - 55
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - New York
ER  -