Predator Detection in Infancy

婴儿期的捕食者检测

• 批准号: 7060383
• 负责人: DAVID H RAKISON
• 金额: $ 6.9万
• 依托单位: CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-05-01 至 2008-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7060383
• 关键词: Arachnida; behavioral /social science research tag; behavioral genetics; cerebral cortex; child behavior; clinical research; cognition; developmental psychology; escape reaction; evolution; human subject; infant human (0-1 year); instinct; method development; newborn human (0-6 weeks); predation; snakes

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): All species face adaptive problems that need to be solved in order for an organism to survive an reproduce. One of most important adaptive problems that species must overcome is predator avoidance because an organism cannot pass its genes to the next generation if it is killed. Despite a significant database concerning the presence of predator detection and predator response mechanisms in non-human animals, there is a dearth of evidence regarding how they might operate in humans. The current proposal focuses on this issue by investigating the existence of predator detection mechanisms in young infants. The main hypothesis of the proposed studies is that infants possess a psychological mechanism that provides a perceptual template, or minimal representational description, of animals that were threats to our hominid ancestors - in particular, snakes and spiders. The proposal brings together diverse methodologies to examine this question. One series of studies will examine whether neonates and young infants preferentially orient toward schematic and real-images of spiders and snakes. The relative contributions of cortical and subcortical structures to these behaviors will also be explored. A second series of studies will use the familiarization procedure to provide converging evidence by investigating whether young infants categorize dangerous animals as equivalent and as different from non-threatening animals. This approach to a core question in cognitive science represents a new discipline of scientific endeavor in developmental evolutionary psychology. The results will shed light on the role of innate and learned mechanisms in human behavior and will have relevance to cognition, development, evolutionary psychology, clinical psychology, and neuroscience.

描述（由申请人提供）：所有物种都面临需要解决的自适应问题，以使生物生存在繁殖中。物种必须克服的最重要的适应性问题之一是避免捕食者，因为如果有机体被杀死，则有机体不能将其基因传递给下一代。尽管有一个重要的数据库，即非人类动物中存在捕食者检测和捕食者反应机制，但仍缺乏证据表明它们如何在人类中运作。当前的提案通过研究年轻婴儿的捕食者检测机制的存在来关注这一问题。拟议研究的主要假设是，婴儿具有一种心理机制，该机制提供了对我们人类祖先的威胁，尤其是蛇和蜘蛛的感知模板或最少的代表性描述。该提案汇集了各种方法来研究这个问题。一系列研究将检查新生儿和年轻婴儿是否优先向蜘蛛和蛇的示意图和现实形象进行东方。还将探索皮质和皮层结构对这些行为的相对贡献。第二项研究将使用熟悉程序来提供融合的证据，通过研究年轻婴儿是否将危险动物分类为等效且与非威胁性动物不同。认知科学中核心问题的这种方法代表了发展进化心理学中科学努力的新学科。结果将阐明先天和学到的机制在人类行为中的作用，并将与认知，发展，进化心理学，临床心理学和神经科学相关。

项目成果

Do 5-Month-Old Infants Possess an Evolved Detection Mechanism for Snakes, Sharks, and Rodents?

5 个月大的婴儿是否拥有进化的对蛇、鲨鱼和啮齿动物的检测机制？

• DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2018.1488717
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Journal of cognition and development : official journal of the Cognitive Development Society
• 作者: Rakison,DavidH

Do infants possess an evolved spider-detection mechanism?

婴儿是否拥有进化的蜘蛛检测机制？

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2007.07.022
• 发表时间: 2008
• 期刊: Cognition
• 影响因子: 3.4
• 作者: Rakison,DavidH;Derringer,Jaime
• 通讯作者: Derringer,Jaime

Does women's greater fear of snakes and spiders originate in infancy?

• DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.002
• 发表时间: 2009-11-01
• 期刊: EVOLUTION AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR
• 影响因子: 5.1
• 作者: Rakison, David H.