Variations in Infants' Physical and Social Environments Shape Spontaneous Locomotion

Overview

Journal Dev Psychol

Publisher American Psychological Association

Specialties Pediatrics
Psychology

Date 2024 Apr 22

PMID 38647471

Authors

Justine Hoch

Christina Hospodar

Gabriela Koch da Costa Aguiar Alves

Karen Adolph

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Independent locomotion is associated with a range of positive developmental outcomes, but unlike cognitive, linguistic, and social skills, acquiring motor skills requires infants to generate their own input for learning. We tested factors that shape infants' spontaneous locomotion by observing forty 12- to 22-month-olds (19 girls, 21 boys) during free play. Infants were recruited from the New York City area, and caregivers reported that 25 infants were White, six were Asian, four were Black, and five had multiple races; four were Hispanic or Latino. All infants played in four conditions: two environmental conditions (gross-motor toys, fine-motor toys) crossed with two social conditions (alone, together with a caregiver). Infants moved more in the gross-motor toy conditions than in the fine-motor toy conditions. However, the effect of playing with a caregiver differed by toy condition. In the gross-motor toy conditions, playing with a caregiver did not affect how much infants moved, but in the fine-motor toy conditions, playing with a caregiver further depressed infant locomotion. Infants with more walking experience moved more with gross-motor toys but not with fine-motor toys. Differences in the amount of locomotion between conditions were related to how infants used toys and the interactions between infants and caregivers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Citing Articles

The development of gait and mobility: Form and function in infant locomotion.

Hospodar C, Adolph K Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci. 2024; 15(4):e1677.

PMID: 38499970 PMC: 11226364. DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1677.

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