Perceptive Infant

Yesterday was Nate's third visit to NYU's Infant Perception Lab. While I was recovering from labor at NYU Medical Center I was asked to volunteer my child for these experiments, and I said Yes! For what we need more of is Science! This time, as with the other times, Nate sat on my lap and was shown various objects on a computer screen while his reactions/looking times were recorded. The theory behind all of this is that babies will look longer at objects that are new and interesting, and thus the researchers can see, for example, if babies can tell that a 3-D object is impossible (a la Escher). But the twist this time was that they wouldn't let me look at the screen, lest I subconsciously effect Nate's reactions with my jostling/holding/shushing him. Afterwards it was revealed that it was a test of gender differences in spatial acuity. Hello! It turns out that boys perform better on spacial tests than girls, and they're trying to figure out how early this starts, and thus whether it's due to nature or nurture or some combo of the two.

The test showed Nate a complex 3-D shape (like a couple of 3-D Tetris pieces stuck together) rotating back and forth. Once he was bored with that, he was shown the reverse side of the 3-D shape alternated with a MIRROR IMAGE of the 3-D shape. I personally couldn't tell the difference, but Nate could! He looked longer at (thus was more interested in) the mirror image shape, because it was "new" to him! Pretty incredible. Though I'm hoping he was better at this not because I am a lady and he is a boy but because I was only shown the shapes for a second or two and he had a couple of minutes to study them. But still: 3 months old, and he can notice these things. See what Science has already taught us?

Afterwards I took a bus over to the Giant Robot store(s) and bought me some more Japanese capsule toys. I am such a sucker for the Asian toy design. I bought another Wan Room toy and some more Rice Ball toys (image seemingly unavailable on the entire WWW.) In more adult news, I have also now bought a total of six pieces of art from the Giant Robot New York gallery, including four different prints from the current show, which is about to close but which you can browse here.