January 28, 2011 Tulane psychologists are using high-tech
motion-capture cameras to study the early development of hand-
mouth coordination skills in infants.VIEW FULL-SIZE PHOTO Using
the digital motion-capture technology that made the fabulous
worlds of Avatar and Tron Legacy possible, Tulane psychologists
are analyzing the early development of coordination skills in
infants. "We are studying the development of hand-mouth
coordination during the first year--a basic adaptive skill for
self-feeding and self-calming," says lead investigator Jeffrey
Lockman, professor of psychology. The five-year study is funded
by a new $1.6 million award from the National Institutes of
Health. Approximately 600 babies from 2 months to 18 months of
age will be studied at Tulane's Infant and Toddlers Development
Project laboratory, where they will be filmed using infrared
cameras placed at different vantage points. "This is a motion
analysis system," says Lockman. "We put infrared-reflective
markers on the babies' arms, on the o