The Behaviors Infants Use for Self and Object Exploration Relate Throughout the First Two Years of Life

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Perceptual, Sensory, Motor

Abstract

Introduction: In line with dynamic systems theory, (Corbetta & Thelen, 1996; Goldfield, 1993; Thelen, 1990), the visual and manual behaviors infants use to explore their bodies when portable objects are not present might be hypothesized to relate to the behaviors used to explore objects. The goal of this study was to test whether early non-object-oriented (NOO) self-exploratory behavior related to OO exploratory behavior.
Methods: Participants were 23 infants born full-term (14 males; 37-42 weeks gestation, Mean = 39.4; SD = 1.1) and 29 born preterm (10 males; 22-30 weeks gestation, Mean = 26.5; SD = 1.7). Infants’ NOO and OO exploration behaviors were assessed longitudinally via home visits at 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months of corrected age. Exploration behaviors were coded using Datavyu for three minutes of NOO exploration (seated in a chair without direct social or object interaction) and 3.5 minutes of OO exploration (seated in the same chair; seven objects held for 30-second exploration trials). Behaviors included midline or bimanual activity, mouthing, looking, fisting, and touching the body. Intensity (bouts of behavior) and variability (percent of the total number of potential individual or combined behaviors observed) of behavioral performance were also quantified. The developmental trajectories for infants’ NOO exploration were related to those for OO exploration using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM; Raudenbush et al., 2004).
Results: Infants’ developmental trajectories for NOO exploration (e.g., holding both hands in midline, touching the body with the hands, looking at the hand(s), NOO exploration intensity, NOO exploration variability) closely related to the trajectories for the corresponding OO behaviors (e.g., bimanual holding of objects, touching the body with objects, looking at objects in the hand, OO exploration intensity, OO exploration variability). In contrast, asymmetrical one-handed fisting during NOO exploration was related to less bimanual manipulation during OO exploration, highlighting the role of hand position for grasp and bimanual object manipulation. Only mouthing of the hand during NOO exploration did not relate to mouthing of objects during OO exploration. Estimated statistical parameters are presented in Table 1.
Conclusion: The findings support the close dynamic relation between co-developing NOO and OO exploratory behaviors (Figure 1). Specifically, NOO exploration behaviors likely allow children to understand the foundational affordances of their bodies in relation to their environment and to establish the repertoire of behaviors that can be amplified and applied in novel combinations when children are provided opportunities to explore objects (Lobo & Galloway, 2013).

Authors

• Andrea Baraldi Cunha, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC)
  Presenting Author

• Iryna Babik, Boise State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michele A Lobo, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author