Neuroscience
'From the Archives': first published in the Digest 16/02/04
Babies start using their feet to explore the world before they use their hands. That's according to James Galloway and Esther Thelen at the Universities of Indiana and Delaware, USA.
Six babies first used their feet to touch toys dangled in front of them when they were on average just 11.7 weeks old, compared with first using their hands at 15.7 weeks. The babies' foot contact wasn't accidental - when the toys were absent, the babies' feet spent significantly less time in the toy-dangling area. This finding was confirmed in a second experiment with 10 infants, in which the toy-to-limb distance (4 inches) was standardised for each baby.
These observations directly violate the classic 'cephalocaudal rule' that states infant movement control progresses in a head-to-toe fashion. They also contradict the idea that in the first months of life, the legs only move in a reflexive, non-purposeful fashion.
The authors argued "the finding that young infants repeatedly aimed their feet to contact the toy suggests the use of supraspinal (i.e. brain) centers for purposeful control much earlier than traditionally envisioned".
_________________________________________
Galloway, J.C. & Thelen, E. (2004). Feet first: object exploration in young infants. Infant Behaviour and Development, 27, 107-112.
Did you know? - Jean Piaget also noticed his baby son used his leg to kick a toy. See Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
How babies go sole searching
'From the Archives': first published in the Digest 16/02/04Babies start using their feet to explore the world before they use their hands. That's according to James Galloway and Esther Thelen at the Universities of Indiana and Delaware, USA.
Six babies first used their feet to touch toys dangled in front of them when they were on average just 11.7 weeks old, compared with first using their hands at 15.7 weeks. The babies' foot contact wasn't accidental - when the toys were absent, the babies' feet spent significantly less time in the toy-dangling area. This finding was confirmed in a second experiment with 10 infants, in which the toy-to-limb distance (4 inches) was standardised for each baby.
These observations directly violate the classic 'cephalocaudal rule' that states infant movement control progresses in a head-to-toe fashion. They also contradict the idea that in the first months of life, the legs only move in a reflexive, non-purposeful fashion.
The authors argued "the finding that young infants repeatedly aimed their feet to contact the toy suggests the use of supraspinal (i.e. brain) centers for purposeful control much earlier than traditionally envisioned".
_________________________________________
Galloway, J.C. & Thelen, E. (2004). Feet first: object exploration in young infants. Infant Behaviour and Development, 27, 107-112.
Did you know? - Jean Piaget also noticed his baby son used his leg to kick a toy. See Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- Why "reaching Training" For Babies Might Soon Become A Thing
Babies' first motor skills – how early they learn to reach for things and explore them – are related to their later abilities, both motor skills (such as crawling and walking) and skills in other domains, such as their vocabulary. This raises...
- Another Look At A Mistake Babies Make
Psychologists think they've found a new explanation for a classic mistake made by babies. If you repeatedly hide an object under an opaque cup, each time allowing a ten-month-old baby to retrieve it, and then you hide it one last time under a second...
- Do Babies Understand That Things Exist When They're Out Of Sight, Or Don't They?
When babies younger than nine months watch as an object is placed under a cloth, most will subsequently act as though it no longer exists - that is, they don't go looking for it. The pioneering developmental psychologist Jean Piaget thought this reflected...
- One-year-old Babies Predict Other People’s Intentions
Babies as young as 12 months already have a rudimentary understanding of other people’s intentions. That’s according to Terje Falck-Ytter and colleagues who observed babies’ eye movements as they watched a video presentation of a person picking...
- Cognition In Babies
Newsweek's cover story for Aug 15 is all about "Your Baby's Brain". Reads like a literature review lite on cognition in babies -- fascinating, and simple enough for non-scientists to understand. That's the way I like my cognitive science!...