Greenfield KM, Ropar D

Forming an accurate representation of the body relies on visual and proprioceptive integration. Whilst adults integrate these sources in a statistically optimal way, studies with children indicate that younger children’s integration is suboptimal. However, this could be due to the complex nature of tasks used and/or the extent that tasks rely on working memory or motor skills, both of which develop significantly with age. In this talk, I will present two studies investigating how children integrate visual and proprioceptive information when localising the body while controlling for confounding factors. Results suggest that, throughout early childhood, visual inputs are increasingly integrated with proprioceptive information to determine hand location. Variability in social skills or inattention does not predict task performance.