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Postural adjustment as a sign of attention in 7-month-old infants
Adriana Tonhão Tribucci1, Silvia Penedo-Leme, Carolina Araújo Rodrigues Funayama
1Department of Neurology, Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, School of Medicine at Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo University, Brazil. tribucci@convex.com.br
Insights
Postural adjustments in 7-month-old infants correlate with attention span. Increased weight transfers and fewer trunk movements during visual attention indicate developing motor and cognitive integration.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Motor control
- Infant cognition
Background:
- Postural control is crucial for integrating movement and cognition in infants.
- Understanding infant postural adjustments provides insights into developmental processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe postural changes in 7-month-old infants.
- To investigate the correlation between postural adjustments and attention span.
Main Methods:
- Twenty-nine healthy infants were filmed for 1 minute while viewing an animated puppet.
- Quantified postural changes included position, weight transfer, and trunk movements.
- Attention span and visual attention pauses were also measured.
Main Results:
- In the prone position, attention span positively correlated with weight transfers (r=0.53, p=0.04).
- Attention span negatively correlated with trunk movements (r=-0.63, p=0.01) in the prone group.
- No correlation was found between attention span and infant weight.
Conclusions:
- Postural adjustments, specifically trunk movements and weight transfer, are linked to attention in 7-month-old infants.
- Findings suggest these motor changes are distinct indicators related to infant attention development.
Unlabelled:
Adjustments during postural control have been recognized in the process of the integration of movement and cognition. The objective of the present work was to describe postural changes and to verify if there is a correlation between postural adjustment and attention span in 7-month-old infants during 1 min of viewing an animated puppet.
Method:
Twenty-nine healthy infants (14 males) born from 31 to 39 weeks (median 36) were placed in a prone position and filmed watching a puppet during 1 min. The analysis of the images allowed us to catalogue the changes in position, the frequency of these changes, and the attention span. The following items were quantified: total number of infant positions, positions with weight transfer, changes in support, axis, decubitus, trunk and cervical movements, timing and pauses in visual attention.
Results:
Twenty-one infants stayed in the prone position during most of the recording, and eight chose sitting position before starting the session. Two groups were studied according to the main position throughout the filming, one in prone and the other in sitting positions, although they could rolling or crawling. For prone group the attention span was positively correlated with the number of positions with weight transfer (r=0.53, p=0.04), negatively correlated with trunk movements (r=-0.63, p=0.01), and not correlated with birth or current weight. This work suggests that changes in the trunk movements and weight transfer are different traits related to the attention in 7-month-old infants.
