Immediately after birth, newborns are introduced within a
highly stimulating environment, where many objects move
close to them. It would therefore be adaptive for infants to pay
more attention to objects that move towards them - on a
colliding pathway - and could therefore come into contact and
interact with them. The present study aimed at understanding
if newborns are able to discriminate between colliding vs. noncolliding
trajectories. To address this issue, we measured the
looking behaviour of newborns who were presented with
videos of different pairings of three events: approaching
objects along a colliding course, approaching objects along a
non-colliding trajectory, and receding objects. Results outlined
that newborns preferred looking at the approaching and
colliding movement than at both the receding and the
approaching but non-colliding movements. Data also suggest
the possible occurrence of a configural effect when two
colliding events are displayed simultaneously. Furthermore
newborns appeared to look longer at movements directed
towards the Peripersonal Space than at those directed away
from it.
