Development of Perception: Psychobiological Perspectives. Audition, Somatic Perception, and the Chemical Senses

464 Pages·1981·8.609 MB·English

by  Richard Aslin (Eds.)

BEHAVIORAL BIOLOGY
AN I N T E R N A T I O N AL S E R I ES
Series editors
James L. McGaugh John C. Fentress Joseph P. Hegmann
Department of Psychobiology Department of Psychology Department of Zoology
University of California Dalhousie University The University of Iowa
Irvine, California Halifax, Canada Iowa City, Iowa
Holger Ursin, Eivind Baade, and Seymour Levine (Editors), Psychobiology
of Stress: A Study of Coping Men
William W. Grings and Michael E. Dawson, Emotions and Bodily Re­
sponses: A Psychophysiological Approach
Enoch Callaway, Patricia Tueting, and Stephen H. Koslow (Editors),
Event Related Brain Potentials in Man
Larry L. Butcher (Editor), Cholinergic-Monoaminergic Interactions in the
Brain
Aryeh Routtenberg (Editor), Biology of Reinforcement: Facets of Brain-
Stimulation Reward
Richard N. Aslin, Jeffrey R. Alberts, and Michael R. Petersen (Editors),
Development of Perception: Psychobiological Perspectives. Vol. 1:
Audition, Somatic Perception, and the Chemical Senses; Vol. 2: The
Visual System
Joe L. Martinez, Jr., Robert A. Jensen, Rita B. Messing, Henk Rigter, and
James L. McGaugh (Editors), Endogenous Peptides and Learning
and Memory Processes
DEVELOPMENT
OF PERCEPTION
Psychobiological Perspectives
VOLUME 1
Audition, Somatic Perception,
and the Chemical Senses
Edited by
RICHARD N. ASLIN
JEFFREY R. ALBERTS
MICHAEL R. PETERSEN
Department of Psychology
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
ACADEMIC PRESS
A Subsidiary of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers
New York London Toronto Sydney San Francisco 1981
COPYRIGHT © 1981, BY ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
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United Kingdom Edition published by
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
The Development of perception.
(Behavioral biology)
Includes bibliographies and indexes.
Contents: v. 1. Audition, somatic perception, and the
chemical senses --v. 2. The visual system.
1. Visual perception. 2. Neuropsychology. 3. Devel­
opmental psychobiology. I. Aslin, Richard N.
II. Alberts, Jeffrey E. III. Petersen, Michael R.
IV. Series: Behavioral biology (New York, N.Y. : 1978)
[DNLM: 1. Visual perception. Wl 705 D489]
QP491.D47 152.1'4 81-7946
ISBN 0-12-065301-X (v.l) AACR2
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
82 83 84 85 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contributors
Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors' contributions begin.
JEFFREY R. ALBERTS (321), Department of Psychology, Indiana Uni­
versity, Bloomington, Indiana 47405
RICHARD N. ASLIN (219), Department of Psychology, Indiana Uni­
versity, Bloomington, Indiana 47405
MICHAEL D. BEECHER (45), Department of Psychology, University
of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
ELLIOTT M. BLASS (359), Department of Psychology, Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
RACHEL CLIFTON (141), Department of Psychology, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
BEN M. CLOPTON (111), Department of Otolaryngology, School of
Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
JOHN M. DOWD (141), Department of Psychology, University of Mas­
sachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
DIANNE DURHAM (259), Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology,
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
63110
JOHN C. FENTRESS (293), Departments of Psychology and Biology,
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4JI, Canada
BENNETT G. GALEF, JR. (411), Department of Psychology, McMaster
University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada
GILBERT GOTTLIEB (5), North Carolina Division of Mental Health,
Raleigh, North Carolina 27611
ROGER M. HARRIS* (259), Department of Anatomy, Washington
University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
* Present address: Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco,
School of Medicine, San Francisco, California 94143.
xi
xii Contributors
PETER W. JUSCZYK (191), Department of Psychology, University of
Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403
RAYMOND D. KENT (161), Human Communication Laboratories, Boys
Town Institutes, Omaha, Nebraska 68131
JOHN W. KULIG* (141), Department of Psychology, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
CHRISTIANA M. LEONARD (383), Department of Neuroscience,
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610
CHARLOTTE M. MISTRETTA (433), Center for Human Growth and
Development, Research Area, School of Nursing; and Department
of Oral Biology, School of Dentristry, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, Michigan 48109
BARBARA A. MORRONGIELLO (141), Department of Psychology,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
PATRICIA E. PEDERSEN (359), Department of Psychology, Johns Hop­
kins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
MICHAEL R. PETERSEN (67), Department of Psychology, Indiana
University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405
DAVID B. PISONI (219), Department of Psychology, Indiana Univer­
sity, Bloomington, Indiana 47405
DANIEL J. SIMONS (259), Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology,
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
63110
KAREN L. VALENTINO (259), Department of Anatomy and Neuro­
biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis,
Missouri 63110
AMANDA C. WALLEY (219), Department of Psychology, Indiana
University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405
THOMAS A. WOOLSEY (259), Department of Anatomy and Neuro­
biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis,
Missouri 63110
* Present address: Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb,
Illinois 60115.
General Preface
The study of perceptual development has been approached from
many different levels (from neurons to behavior), in different sensory
modalities, and in a wide variety of species, and contemporary research
has tended to travel down increasingly esoteric and reductionistic paths.
Thus, articles, books, and research strategies are organized around
rarified techniques, particular sensory modalities, or singular levels of
analysis. We believe there is much to be gained by looking at perceptual
development as a more broadly defined "field/' Stepping back from
the idiosyncracies of our own research and seeking out the common­
alities that have been found across species and sensory modalities, we
hope that overriding organizational principles will emerge to guide
future research. The chapters in these volumes, disparate in origin and
discipline, reflect a new surge of interest and activity in what can indeed
be considered a field of scientific inquiry: the development of perception.
This two-volume set is a unique assemblage of chapters covering
vision, audition, olfaction, taste, tactile sensitivity, and sensory-motor
activity during ontogenesis. The chapters provide a comprehensive col­
lection of overviews and an assortment of case histories that summarize
the progress made in recent years. Within each sensory modality or
content area there are different levels of analysis, varied research goals,
and distinctive blends of theoretical integration. Our bias, as reflected
in the title of this work, is to emphasize approaches to perceptual
development that incorporate a psychobiological perspective, a term
that we define to include analyses of phenomena at the mechanistic,
physiological, behavioral, and evolutionary levels. Accordingly, the
discussion of sensory and perceptual development must involve con­
sideration of the multileveled network of causal factors that generate
a unique, yet species-typical, organism. Studies of nonhuman species
are essential, not only for ethical and methodological reasons, but also
because the comparative approach allows us to take advantage of
"natural experiments"—instances in which the timing, degree, and
function of different developmental events can be varied by the ap­
propriate choice of species. We hope that this broadened perspective
xiii
xiv Acknowledgments
will open new vistas for inquiry and encourage new methodologies
with which we can address the persistent questions of perceptual
development.
Acknowledgments
Many of the chapters in these volumes are outgrowths of a four-day
meeting, the Brown County Conference, held in Nashville, Indiana,
during October 7-12, 1979. More than sixty researchers from the United
States, Canada, England, and Australia were assembled to share their
data and thoughts on the complex interactions between genetic and
experiential factors in determining the course of perceptual develop­
ment. We want to thank the many people who made both the con­
ference and the book possible. Support for the conference was provided
by grants from the National Science Foundation (BNS 79-06204) and
the Sloan Foundation (B1979-12). To those agencies we express our
sincere appreciation. The mechanics of the conference were organized
and coordinated in large part by Nancy Layman, who also provided
invaluable assistance in the preparation of manuscripts during the suc­
ceeding months. We are most grateful for her efforts. Special thanks
are also due to David Pisoni, one of the primary instigators of the
conference, who helped to obtain funding and to oversee many of the
organizational duties. Finally, we thank the graduate students at In­
diana University who devoted their time and effort as hosts and shuttle
bus drivers.
Preface
This volume contains both overviews and specific discussions of au­
dition, somatic perception, and the chemical senses aimed at the an­
atomical, neurophysiological, and behavioral levels. It is organized into
four parts; audition is given the greatest coverage as a result of a broader
data base.
Parts A and B are devoted to aspects of auditory perceptual devel­
opment in animals and humans, respectively. Gottlieb uses the devel­
opment of species-specificity in duckling auditory perception as the
vehicle for elucidating experiential processes in perceptual develop­
ment. Beecher illustrates the functional role of auditory perception in
parent-offspring recognition in birds. Petersen discusses basic onto­
genetic issues that arise in nonhuman primates' perceptual biases for
species-specific vocalizations. Clopton then reviews basic neurophys­
iological and anatomical development of the auditory system.
Three of the chapters on audition in human infants focus on specific
topics. Clifton, Morrongiello, Kulig, and Dowd describe the develop­
ment of auditory localization. The chapters by Kent and Jusczyk are
concerned with the production and the processing of speech sounds,
respectively. Walley, Pisoni, and Aslin address some of the more gen­
eral issues in their analysis of experiential components in the devel­
opment of speech perception.
Part C is an introduction to issues of somatosensory and sensorimotor
development—important but relatively neglected areas. Woolsey, Dur­
ham, Harris, Simons, and Valentino describe pioneering studies of
development and plasticity in the neural structures of specialized so­
matosensory areas. Fentress offers a review of questions, analyses, and
integrative problems concerning sensorimotor development.
Part D contains chapters on the development of olfaction and taste.
Alberts provides a broad overview of olfactory perceptual development.
Pedersen and Blass focus on the perinatal factors involved in olfactory
control of suckling in rats, an example of the recent, intense research
interest in early behavior and olfaction. Leonard reviews olfactory neu-
roanatomical development and proposes a neurobiological model for
XV
xvi Preface
the development of olfactory recognition. The chapters on gustatory
development cover behavioral, anatomical, and neurophysiological lev­
els of analysis. Galef discusses the social and nonsocial factors that
determine diet preferences. Mistretta reviews anatomical and neuro­
physiological aspects of gustatory development.
Together, these chapters provide both an introduction to and a sam­
pling of the progress, methods, problems, and concepts that charac­
terize a broad spectrum of integrative studies of perceptual development.
Contents of Volume 2
The Visual System
PART A THEORETICAL AND INTERPRETIVE ISSUES
1 Sensitive Periods in Visual Development
DONALD E. MITCHELL
2 Experiential Influences and Sensitive Periods in Perceptual
Development: A Unified Model
RICHARD N. ASLIN
3 Strategies for Assessing Visual Deficits in Animals with Selective
Neural Deficits
RANDOLPH BLAKE
PART B ANIMAL STUDIES OF VISUAL DEVELOPMENT
4 Development of the Visual System and Visually Guided
Behavior
THOMAS T. NORTON
5 Maturation of the Superior Colliculus
BARRY E. STEIN AND BARBARA GORDON
6 Animal Models of Visual Development: Behavioral Evaluation of
Some Physiological Findings in Cat Visual Development
MARK A. BERKLEY
7 Development of Spatial Vision in Infant Macaque Monkeys
under Conditions of Normal and Abnormal Visual Experience
RONALD G. BOOTHE
xvii