Learning to perceive time: A connectionist, memory-decay model of the development of interval timing in infants.
Category
Paper Conference
Authors
Addyman, C., French, R. M., Mareschal, D., Thomas, E.
Year
2011
Title
Learning to perceive time: A connectionist, memory-decay model of the development of interval timing in infants.
Journal / book / conference
Cognitive Science 2011
Abstract
We present the first developmental model of interval timing. It is a memory-based connectionist model of how infants learn to perceive time. It has two novel features that are not found in other models. First, it uses the uncertainty of a memory for an event as an index of how long ago that event happened. Secondly, embodiment – specifically, infant motor activity – is crucial to the calibration of time-perception both within and across sensory modalities. We describe the model and present three simulations which show (1) how it uses sensory memory uncertainty and bodily representaions to index time, (2) that the scalar property of interval timing (Gibbon, 1977) emerges naturally from this network and (3) that motor activity can synchronize independent timing mechanisms across different sensory modalities.
Keywords
Infancy, cognitive development, interval timing, embodied learning.