3-052 - Mechanisms of Development: Influences of Exploration and Social Engagement on Language, Joint-Attention, and Decision-Making

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Development occurs within the context of dynamic interactions between child and the surrounding social and physical world. Throughout this process, the child is an active agent who manipulates and influences the environment. Acquisition of new motor skills changes the information that can be extracted via exploratory activity from the environment. At the same time, caregivers respond to changes in their child’s motor ability and offer differential social stimulation. Therefore, changes in motor ability and their corresponding effects on the child’s experiences and the environment are likely important for subsequent learning and development. However, the relation between motor skills, exploratory activity, parental engagement, and subsequent development are poorly understood and remain understudied. This symposium brings together four papers examining this critical issue with a particular focus on the mechanism underlying the relation between motor and social-cognitive skills.
The first paper reports how emerging grasping and sitting skills of 3- to 5-month-old infants influence their caregiver’s verbal engagement and their own subsequent language skills. The second paper examines how crawling and walking ability interact with parent-infant interactions in shaping infant language development. The third paper describes how age and experience influence whether infants rely on their own exploratory activity or on social information when making decisions about future actions. And finally, the fourth paper examines whether relations between motor skills and language development are stable or decline over time. Together, these papers highlight why different sources of information become available and how they are used by the child during learning and development.

Sub Unit

• Perceptual, Sensory, Motor

Chair

• Klaus Libertus, University of Pittsburgh

Individual Presentations

• Attainment of Sitting and Grasping Skills Affect Parental Engagement and Infants’ Subsequent Language Learning - Presenting Author: Klaus Libertus, University of Pittsburgh; Xiaoyun Xu, University of Pittsburgh

• Parent Social Engagement with Crawling and Walking Infants: Relations with Joint Attention and Language - Presenting Author: Eric A Walle, University of California, Merced; Lukas Lopez, University of California, Merced; Jaspreet Johal, University of California, Merced; Gina Pretzer, University of California, Merced; Anne S Warlaumont, University of California, Merced

• Decisions at the Brink: Locomotor Experience Affects Infants’ use of Social Information on Slopes and Drop-offs - Presenting Author: Lana Karasik, CUNY Staten Island; Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda, New York University, Department of Applied Psychology; Karen E. Adolph, New York University, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience

• Small Steps and Giant Leaps: Specific Links Between Walking, Exploration, and Language Development - Presenting Author: Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz, Utrecht University; M. (Chiel) J. M. Volman, Utrecht University; Paul P M Leseman, Utrecht University