Kitten Carousel

Question 1

Define neonate

Answer 1

Newborn baby

Question 2

Define visually guided behavior

Answer 2

Your eyes and sense of environment influence your behavior

Question 3

Define self-produced movement

Answer 3

{insert definition}

Question 4

What is perception?

Answer 4

The organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment

Question 5

How do we perceive?

Answer 5

Feature or object detection-detecting the shape of an object in an environment
Depth-creating 3-D, using 3-D space, from a 2-D retina
Pattern or object recognition-being able to recognize an object in terms of its shape, size, brightness, and color despite viewpoint (angles), distance, or luminescence (brightness)

Question 6

Is visual perception learned or inherited?

Answer 6

Previous research studied this idea in both human and animal neonates. They found that, when deprived of some type of sensory experience, complete sensory adaptation requires movement.

Question 7

What were the restrictions of the previous research?

Answer 7

The animals were completely restricted by holders or had diffusing hoods over the eyes.

Question 8

What’s the AIM?

Answer 8

To test the theory that concurrent self-produced movement is necessary for visually-guided behavior.

Question 9

What is the method?

Answer 9

Lab experiment

Question 10

What is the design?

Answer 10

Independent groups

Each group of kittens only did one condition

Question 11

Participants?

Answer 11

10 pairs of kittens (20 total), each pair taken from a different litter

Question 12

Why kittens?

Answer 12

• They open their eyes soon after birth, so we can distinguish between nature and nurture
• They are able to move when very young
• Small/strong enough to fit/move in such apparatus
• They have observable behaviors that indicate depth perception
• Similar to humans because they are mammals

Question 13

Apparatus?

Answer 13

Striped environment and exposure apparatus called a carousel
-Vertical (1 in) stripes of black and white (masking tape separated by 1 in bare metal) rough side of a piece of Masonite on the floor

One “active” kitten could walk about freely and through the harness, transmit movement to the “passive” kitten, which was placed in a gondola to immobilize it

Non-experimental living conditions–a comfy cage in the dark with their mother and litter-mates

Question 14

What were the variables?

Answer 14

IV1: Kitten pairs X and Y
--Group X: 8 pairs (16 kittens)
--Group Y: 2 pairs (4 kittens)
IV2: Active or Passive kitten
DV: The behaviors tested and observed

Question 15

What are the differences between groups X and Y?

Answer 15

Group X: reared in darkness from birth until one member of the pair was mature enough to coordinate and walk about, varied between 8-12 weeks
Group Y: reared in darkness for 2 weeks and then from 2-10 weeks they were exposed to a patterned environment for 3 hours a day. This environment allowed for head movement but not allowed to walk (double gondola)

Question 16

What was the experiment?

Answer 16

All 10 pairs were placed in the kitten carousel apparatus for 3 hours a day, with one kitten as Active and the other as Passive

Question 17

What were the visually-guided behavior tasks?

Answer 17

Paw Placement–kitten held above table, slowly moved toward it. Normal kitten would extend paws.

Avoidance of visual cliff–is like a bridge between two tables with an invisible glass surface between them. One side of bridge covers a shallow drop and the other side is a deep drop. Normal kitten would walk onto the shallow surface but avoid the deep one.

Blink to an approaching object–experimenter quickly brings their hand toward kitten’s face, stopping before actually touching it. Normal kitten would blink.

Question 18

What were the other tests?

Answer 18

Pupillary reflex to light–Normal kitten’s pupils would shrink

Tactual placing response–normal kitten, when touching a vertical surface, will move its paws to touch a horizontal surface

Visual pursuit of a moving object– if an experimenter moves their hand in front of a kitten, a normal one will move its eyes to follow the hand

Question 19

What were the procedure differences between the groups?

Answer 19

Group X: paw placement was repeated 6 times after exposure to the carousel and when A showed paw placement they were both tested on the visual cliff. Both were re-tested the next day and after the test the passive kitten was exposed to light for 48 hours. Procedure was repeated.

Group Y: paw placement test was repeated 6 times after exposure to the carousel and when A showed paw placement it was tested on the visual cliff; P was not. Was only tested after 6 weeks of carousel experience.

Question 20

Findings?

Answer 20

All kittens responded normally to pupillary reflex, tactual placing, and pursuit of moving objects. Showed no visual or response impairment to moving objects.

None of the passive kittens showed paw placement when the active kitten did.

No active kitten crossed to the deep side, while all passive kittens did sometimes.

Group Y passive kittens showed same paw placement and visual cliff deficit behavior as Group X.

About 48 hours of freedom in a normally illuminated room, all kittens performed normally on all tests.

Question 21

What did they conclude?

Answer 21

Self-produced movement, with concurrent visual feedback, is necessary for the development of normal visually guided behavior.

Supporting research on human development compared to animals: results are same because only kittens which could move developed normal visually guided behavior and adults in visual rearrangement studies needed stimulation to be dependent on natural movement.

Question 22

Evaluation issues?

Answer 22

Ethics:
Is it ethical to raise kittens in an environment like this?
Is the knowledge gained worth it?

Generalizations from animals to humans:
Can we generalize from studies on animals to humans?

Nature vs Nurture: which viewpoint do the findings of this study support?