Poster #100 - The role of object carriage on fall recovery strategies in 13-month-old infants

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

Newly walking infants frequently carry objects (Karasik et al., 2012), which requires the integration of manual object manipulation in a new dynamic upright posture (Heiman et al., 2019). Simultaneously, while engaging in this new object carriage-walking behavior, newly walking infants also experience a high frequency of falls (Adolph et al., 2012). This presents a dilemma: does the infant drop the object to free their hands to aid fall recovery or hold the object and modify their fall recovery strategy (Arnold & Claxton, 2017)? Little is known about fall recovery when newly walking infants engage in object carriage in a free-play setting; therefore, this study examined how 13-month-old infants’ fall recovery strategies differ when carrying or not carrying an object.

Thirty-nine 13-month-old infant-caregiver pairs (24 girls, Mage = 3 mos; 3 wks, Range = 13,0 - 13,4) participated in a 20-minute laboratory free-play session. Using Datayvu, coders identified 1) instances of falls (loss of balance resulting in part of the body making contact with the ground), 2) whether or not the infant was holding an object when the fall occurred, 3) whether they maintained hold of the object or dropped it in object carriage trials, and 4) the role their hands played in the fall recovery strategy (one hand, both hands, no hands). For a small number of falls (< 5%), infants’ hands were out of view and the fall recovery strategy could not be determined. Proportion of fall trials were calculated to examine differences in behavior.

Thirty-six infants experienced a fall (N=256 total falls; range: 1–22 per infant; M = 7.11, SD= 4.58). Of the 256 falls, 55% occurred while carrying an object (N=142) whereas 45% of falls were without an object (N=114). When experiencing a loss of balance while carrying an object, infants were equally likely to hold (M=0.45, SE=0.06) or drop (M=0.47, SE=0.06) the object. Fall recovery strategies exhibited when infants dropped the object were similar to when infants were not holding an object. Infants were equally likely to use one hand (M=0.20, SE=0.05), both hands (M=0.21, SE=0.05), or no hands (M=0.26, SE=0.06) in trials where they dropped the object they were holding before contacting the ground. Similarly, when not holding an object, infants were equally likely to use one hand (M=0.25, SE=0.05), both hands (M=0.29, SE=0.05), or no hands (M=0.25, SE=0.06) as a fall recovery strategy. Interestingly though, for falls where infants maintained hold of the object, infants used one hand (M=0.30, SE=0.06) or no hands (M=0.29, SE=0.06) significantly more often (p’s<0.01) than both hands (M=0.10, SE=0.05).

Holding a toy while falling impacted fall recovery strategies. Infants were less likely to use both hands when they contacted the ground. However, given that the use of one hand, two hand, or no hand recovery strategies were similar when falling without a toy, infants may find each strategy equally useful when recovering from a fall. These findings suggest that infants are flexible and adaptive when recovering from a fall.

Authors

• Paige Thompson, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Emily Shalit, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Amanda J Arnold, Denison University

• Laura Jamie Claxton, Purdue University, West Lafayette