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Published on: May 15, 2019
Ten- and twelve-month-olds' visual anticipation of orientation and size during grasping
Nina Schum1, Bianca Jovanovic, Gudrun Schwarzer
1Department of Developmental Psychology, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, 35394 Giessen, Germany. nina.schum@psychol.uni-giessen.de
Insights
Twelve-month-old infants effectively anticipate object orientation and size during grasping, while 10-month-olds struggle to integrate these two dimensions. Infants sequentially adjust orientation before size when planning movements.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Motor Control
Background:
- Infants' ability to plan and execute grasping movements develops significantly during the first year of life.
- Understanding how infants integrate multiple object properties (e.g., size, orientation) is crucial for comprehending motor planning development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental trajectory of anticipating two object dimensions (orientation and size) during grasping in 10- and 12-month-old infants.
- To determine the age at which infants can simultaneously process and plan for multiple object features before contact.
Main Methods:
- Infants (10- and 12-month-olds) were presented with objects varying in orientation and size.
- Anticipatory hand configurations were analyzed to assess pre-contact adjustments.
- Controlled experiments differentiated between difficulties in anticipating size versus integrating multiple dimensions.
Main Results:
- A significant developmental difference was observed: 94% of 12-month-olds, compared to 40% of 10-month-olds, anticipated both object dimensions.
- Infants demonstrated a sequential adjustment strategy, first adapting to orientation, then to size.
- The difficulty for 10-month-olds was in integrating dimensions, not in anticipating size alone.
Conclusions:
- The ability to integrate two object dimensions for grasping planning emerges between 10 and 12 months of age.
- Grasping development involves a sequential processing of object properties, with orientation being prioritized over size.
- These findings offer insights into the maturation of sensorimotor planning and executive functions in early childhood.
Abstract:
The anticipation of two object dimensions during grasping was investigated in 10- and 12-month-olds. We presented objects varying in both orientation and size and analyzed infants' anticipatory hand configurations. We found in Experiment 1 that nearly all of the 12-month-olds (94%), but less than half of the 10-month-olds (40%), anticipated both dimensions before touching the object. Experiment 2 ruled out the possibility that this behavior resulted from the infants' inability to anticipate the size of the stimuli. Thus, integrating two object dimensions during reaching seems to be difficult for 10-month-olds. In addition, we found a sequential adjustment when two dimensions were considered: Infants first adjusted the orientation and then the size. The implications of our findings concerning the planning and execution of grasping movements are discussed.
