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Reaching and grasping a moving object in 6-, 8-, and 10-month-old infants: laterality and performance
Jacqueline Fagard1, Elizabeth Spelke, Claes von Hofsten
1Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris-Descartes, Paris CNRS, France. jacqueline.fagard@parisdescartes.fr
Insights
Infant grasping of moving objects develops with age. Early infants use different hands for reaching and grasping, while older infants show hand preference and more diverse strategies, influenced by motor constraints.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Motor control
- Infant perception
Background:
- Infant's ability to grasp moving objects is crucial for interaction.
- Understanding the visuo-motor factors guiding this development is key.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate visuo-motor factors in infant grasping of laterally-moving objects.
- Examine the roles of hand preference, midline crossing, and visual-field asymmetry.
- Compare infant grasping strategies across different ages (6, 8, 10 months).
Main Methods:
- Presented a graspable object moving in a circular trajectory to infants.
- Analyzed reaching and grasping actions based on object's direction of motion.
- Observed hand use (ipsilateral vs. contralateral) and hand preference.
Main Results:
- Six-month-olds used ipsilateral reaching and contralateral grasping.
- Eight-month-olds exhibited a strong right-hand bias for reaching and grasping.
- Ten-month-olds demonstrated varied strategies, including bimanual and ipsilateral grasping.
Conclusions:
- Motor constraints like spatial compatibility and hand preference influence infant grasping development.
- Age-related differences in grasping are explained by these motor constraints.
- Midline crossing does not appear to be a significant factor in these age differences.
Abstract:
The goal of this study was to investigate some of the visuo-motor factors underlying an infant's developing ability to grasp a laterally-moving object. In particular, hand preference, midline crossing, and visual-field asymmetry were investigated by comparing performance as a function of the object's direction of motion. We presented 6-, 8-, and 10-month-old infants with a graspable object, moving in a circular trajectory in the horizontal plane. Six-month-old infants reached for the object with the ipsilateral hand and grasped it with the contralateral hand. Eight-month-old infants showed a strong right-hand bias for both reaching and grasping. Ten-month-old infants showed a greater diversity of strategy use including bimanual and successful ipsilateral grasping following ipsilateral reaching in both directions of motion. Thus, motor constraints due to spatial compatibility, hand preference and bimanual coordination (but not midline crossing) must be taken into account to understand age differences in grasping a moving object.
