Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization
Published on: April 19, 2017
Midreach correction in 7-month-olds
1Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Insights
Seven-month-old infants can adjust their reaching movements in mid-flight. This study shows infants correct their hand
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Motor Control
- Infant Perception-Action
Background:
- Infant reaching is theorized to involve perception-action cycles.
- These cycles involve assessing hand and target positions to guide movement.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if 7-month-old infants can correct their reaching movements mid-flight.
- To determine the latency of such corrections when a target's location is shifted.
Main Methods:
- Observing 12 seven-month-old infants as they reached for a target.
- Shifting the target's location during the infants' reaches.
- Analyzing the infants' ability to adjust hand direction mid-reach.
Main Results:
- Infants successfully corrected their reaching direction in the majority of trials where the target was shifted.
- The latency for these mid-flight corrections ranged between 200 and 400 milliseconds.
Conclusions:
- The findings support the hypothesis that infants actively monitor hand and target positions during reaching.
- Infants demonstrate an ability to adjust their movements in response to perceived errors during the reach cycle.
Abstract:
In recent work, it has been suggested that infant reaching is composed of a sequence of perception-action cycles in which the positions of the hand and the target are assessed and actions are generated that bring the hand to the target. In the present work, the author examined the ability of 7-month-old infants (N = 12) to correct reaches in midflight when a target location was shifted. The results showed that on the majority of shift trials, the infants corrected hand direction in midreach and that the latency of correction was 200-400 ms. Although the present results are limited to the case of the infant's response to a target shift, they are consistent with the hypothesis that infants monitor the positions of the hand and the target during the reach and are able to adjust for any errors of movement.
More Related Videos
06:35Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
Published on: April 28, 2016
10:11Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking (IPL): Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism
Published on: December 14, 2012
Related Concept Videos
01:22Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
01:14Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...