TPO-13 Reading 3 阅读译文

Methods ofStudying InfantPerception研究婴儿感知能力的方法In thestudy ofperceptual abilitiesof infants,a number of techniquesare usedto determineinfants responses tovarious stimuli.Because theycannot verbalizeor filloutquestionnaires,indirect techniques of naturalisticobservation are used asthe primarymeansof determiningwhat infantscan see,hear,feel,and soforth.Each of these methodscomparesan infantsstate prior to theintroduction of a stimuluswith itsstate duringorimmediately followingthe stimulus.The differencebetween thetwo measuresprovidesthe researcherwith anindication of the leveland durationof theresponse to the stimulus.For example,if auniformly movingpattern ofsome sortis passedacross thevisual fieldofa neonatenew born,repetitive followingmovements of the eyeoccur.The occurrenceofthese eyemovements providesevidence that the movingpattern isperceived atsome levelbythe newborn.Similarly,changes inthe infantsgeneral levelof motoractivity—turningthe head,blinking theeyes,crying,and soforth-have been used by researchers asvisualindicators of the infantsperceptual abilities.在对婴儿感知能力的研究中，许多技术被应用于确定婴儿对不同刺激的反应，由于他们婴儿无法用言语表达或者填写问卷，所以自然观察的非直接性技术被应用于确定婴儿看，听，感知等的要表达的本意这些方法都是将在刺激引入前和刺激引入的同时或紧随其后婴儿产生的反应作对比对刺激的反应程度和反应持续时间是可以提供给研究人员的两种不同的评判标准比如说，如果一个移动的物体的通过新生儿的视线『即重复移动眼睛进行跟随发生的话』这个眼球移动的现象就说明移动的物体在一定程度上引起的新生儿的注意同样的，改变新生儿的一般程度的活动，比如摆头，眨眼，哭或者别的，都可以提供研究人员对于婴儿感知能力的研究提供直观参考Such techniques,however,have limitations.First,the observationmay beunreliable inthattwo ormore observersmay notagree that the particularresponse occurred,ortowhatdegree itoccurred.Second,responses aredifficult toquantify.Often therapid anddiffusemovements of the infantmake itdifficult toget anaccurate recordofthe number ofresponses.The third,and mostpotenl,limitation isthat it is notpossible tobe certainthatthe infantsresponse wasdue tothe stimuluspresented orto achange fromno stimulusto astimulus.The infantmay beresponding to aspects ofthe stimulusdifferent thanthoseidentified bythe investigator.Therefore,when observationalassessment isused asatechnique forstudying infantperceptual abilities,care mustbe takennot toovergeneralizefrom thedata orto relyon oneor twostudies asconclusive evidenceofaparticularperceptual abilityofthe infant.但这些技术也是有局限性的第一，两个甚至更多的观察者也许不会察觉到特殊反应的发生或者什么促使他发生，这样的话这种观察就是不可靠的第二，反应难以被量化，婴儿的很多反应是发生的在很短的时间内以至于研究人员很难准确记录第三点也是最重要的一点，不可能非常明确的说婴儿的反应是由现存的刺激或者后产生的刺激所导致的婴儿可能只是对刺激所表现的反应可能因观察者的不同而不同同时必须要注意的是，用这些技术所产生的观察结果必须过于从资料中概括或者仅仅只是靠一个或两个特殊的婴儿感知能力研究而作为收集到的证据Observational assessmenttechniques havebecome muchmore sophisticated,reducing thelimitationsjust presented.Film analysisofthe infantsresponses,heart andrespiration ratemonitors,and nonnutntive sucking devicesare usedas effectivetools inunderstandinginfant perception.・Film analysispermits researchersto carefullystudy the infantsresponses overand overand inslow motion.nPrecise measurementscan bemade ofthelength andfrequency oftheinfants attention betweentwo stimuli.nHeart andrespirationmonitors providethe investigatorwith thenumberofheartbeats orbreaths takenwhen anew stimulus is presented.■Numerical increasesareusedas quantifiableindicators ofheightenedinterest inthe new stimulus.Increases innonnutntivesuckingwere firstusedas anassessment measurebyresearchersin

1969.They devisedan apparatusthatconnected ababys pacifierto acounting device.As stimuliwere presented,changes intheinfants suckingbehavior wererecorded.Increases inthenumberof suckswere usedas anindicatoroftheinfantsattentionto orpreference fora givenvisual display.观察评估技术变得更加复杂，所受的限制也在减少膜状婴儿反射分析，心脏和呼息频率的稳定性和奶嘴被作为高效的工具用于理解婴儿的感知能力膜状反射分析允许观察者小心的一遍遍的研究婴儿的相对缓慢的反应通过婴儿在两次刺激之间的注意力的长度和频率可以制造出严谨的数据标准心脏和呼吸频率测量仪可以在新的刺激产生时提供给观察者婴儿的心跳次数和呼吸间隙数值增长被用于一些新刺激的兴趣提升1969年，奶嘴的吮吸动作的增加次数首次被研究人员作为评估标准他们设计出了一个连接着仪表的婴儿奶嘴只要刺激出现，婴儿的吸允习惯就会被记录吮吸次数的增加也就变成了对婴儿所表现出的注意力以及喜好的直观展示Two additionaltechniquesofstudying infantperception havecome intovogue.The firstisthe habituation-dishabituation technique,in whicha singlestimulus ispresentedrepeatedly totheinfantuntil thereis ameasurable declinehabituation inwhateverattending behavioris beingobserved.At thatpoint anew stimulus ispresented,and anyrecoverydishabituation inresponsiveness isrecorded.If theinfant failsto dishabituateandcontinues toshow habituationwith thenewstimulus,itisassumed that the babyisunable toperceive thenewstimulusas different.The habituation-dishabituation paradigmhasbeenusedmost extensivelywith studiesof auditoryand olfactoryperception ininfants.The secondtechnique relieson evokedpotentials,which areelectrical brainresponses thatmaybe relatedtoaparticular stimulusbecause ofwhere theyoriginate.Changes intheelectrical patternofthebrain indicatethatthestimulusisgetting throughtotheinfantscentral nervoussystem andeliciting someform ofresponse.另有两个研究婴儿感知的技术走进人们的视野第一个就是习惯非习惯性技术靠的是观察一个单一的重复的对婴儿的刺激，直到婴儿对这一信号形成习惯并对信号的反应出现可测量的减弱习惯性然后在一个新的刺激的出现时，任何对新刺激的反应的平复也都会被记录下来非习惯性如果婴儿没有不习惯而是持续表示出对那些新刺激的习惯性，那么就可以假定婴儿没有办法识别出新的刺激有什么不同这种习惯于非习惯的实验被广泛应用与听觉与嗅觉的婴儿感知研究上另一种技术依靠唤醒潜能，脑电波的反应可能与特殊刺激的感受区相关联改变大脑指示的电讯号可以让刺激通过中枢神经系统并且唤醒相应的反射区Each ofthe precedingtechniques providesthe researcherwith evidencethattheinfant candetector discriminatebetween stimuli.With thesesophisticated observationalassessmentand electrophysiological measures,we knowthattheneonate ofonly afew daysis farmoreperceptive thanpreviously suspected.However,these measuresare onlyindirectindicators oftheinfantsperceptual abilities.以上所说的每一种技术都可以给研究者提供关于婴儿能够探知或区别刺激的依据，通过这些复杂的观察记录和电子生物学的探测，我们知道一个只有几天的新生儿能探知的要远比我们之前猜测的要多的多然而，这些标准也只是通过“间接的”指示器所测量到的婴儿感知的能力。