abstract Article history:Accepted 19 August 2013Available online 2 September 2013Keywords:Object processingColor primingTemporal cortexInfantsNear-infrared spectroscopy Behavioralstudieshaveidentiﬁedselectexperiences thatcan primeinfantsto attend to color informationasthebasisforindividuatingobjectspriortothetimetheydosospontaneously.Forexample,viewingpretesteventsinwhich the color of an object predicts the function in which it will engage leads 9-month-olds (who typically donotattendtocolordifferences)todemonstrateincreasedsensitivitytocolorinformationinasubsequentindivid-uationtask(WilcoxandChapa,2004).Incontrast,viewingpretesteventsinwhichthecolorofanobjectpredictsdistinct object motions, but the motions are not functionally relevant, does not produce color priming. The pur-poseofthepresentresearch wastoidentify thecorticalunderpinningsofthesebehavioraleffects.Infantsaged8and 9 months viewed function or motion pretest events and then their capacity to individuate-by-color wasassessed in an object individuation task. Behavioral and neuroimaging data were collected. Two main ﬁndingsemerged. First, as predicted, the infants who viewed t he function but not the motion pretest events showedprolonged looking to the test event, a behavioral indicator of object individuation. In addition, they evidenced in-creased activation in anterior tempora l cortex, thought to be a cortical signat ure of object individuation. A secondand unexpected ﬁnding was that viewing either type of pretest even ts led to increased activation in the posteriortemporalcortex,ascomparedtoinfantswhodidnotseepret estevents,revealingthatpriorexposuretothemotionpretest events does inﬂuence infants' processing of the test event, even though it is not evident in the behavioralresults. The cognitive processes involved, and the cortic al structures that mediate these processes, are discussed.© 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
['Teresa Wilcox', 'Amy Hirshkowitz', 'Laura Hawkins', 'David A. Boas']
The effect of color priming on infant brain and behavior