Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

What changes in infant walking and why.

Karen E Adolph1, Beatrix Vereijken, Patrick E Shrout

  • 1Department of Psychology, New York University, NY 10003, USA. Karen.Adolph@nyu.edu

Child Development
|April 23, 2003
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Infants Adapt Sitting to a Decreasing Base of Support.

Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies·2026
Same author

Step by Step, Day by Day: The First 3 Months of Infant Walking at Home.

Developmental psychobiology·2026
Same author

The construct validity of real-world digital mobility outcomes in people with COPD.

ERJ open research·2026
Same author

Construct validity of real-world digital mobility outcomes in patients after proximal femoral fracture: a cross-sectional observational study.

Scientific reports·2026
Same author

Continuous assessment of daily-living gait using self-supervised learning of wrist-worn accelerometer data.

NPJ digital medicine·2026
Same author

How infants learn (to walk): Transitions are a fundamental component of practice.

Developmental psychology·2026
Same journal

Timing and type of domestic violence exposure and adolescents' experiences of peer violence.

Child development·2026
Same journal

Comprehension of "can" predicts performance on a nonverbal measure of modal concepts at 48 but not 36 months.

Child development·2026
Same journal

An associative learning account of how saliva becomes a cue for comfort.

Child development·2026
Same journal

If moms do it, it can't be that important: Children's reasoning about gender disparities in domestic work.

Child development·2026
Same journal

Adapting under stress: How sociocultural stress intensity and fluctuation shape youth school engagement and internalizing symptoms.

Child development·2026
Same journal

Children across diverse societies exchange reasons to resolve disagreements.

Child development·2026
See all related articles

Walking skill improves with age and experience, with practice being the key factor for infants. Greater experience leads to longer, narrower, and straighter steps, enhancing balance and muscle control.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Biomechanics
  • Motor learning

Background:

  • Walking skill development is crucial for infant mobility and independence.
  • Factors influencing walking skill acquisition include physical growth, age, and practice.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the contributions of body dimensions, age, and walking experience to the development of walking skill.
  • To analyze kinematic changes in walking patterns across different age groups.

Main Methods:

  • Recruited participants across three age groups: infants (9-17 months), kindergartners (5-6 years), and college students.
  • Utilized kinematic measures from footprint analysis to assess walking skill.
  • Compared improvements in step length, width, straightness, and consistency.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Walking skill demonstrated characteristic improvements with increased size, age, and experience.
  • Key improvements included longer, narrower, straighter, and more consistent steps.
  • Evidence of a narrowing base of support and enhanced control over the path of progression.

Conclusions:

  • Walking experience emerged as a stronger predictor of improved walking skill than chronological age in infants.
  • Practice and motor learning are critical for overcoming physical limitations like weak muscles and poor balance in early walking development.