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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 13, 2026

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

Published on: May 15, 2019

Size matters: how age and reaching experiences shape infants' preferences for different sized objects.

Klaus Libertus¹, Jennifer Gibson, Nadia Z Hidayatallah

¹Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Kennedy Krieger Institute & Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21211, USA. klaus.libertus@gmail.com

Infant Behavior & Development

|March 5, 2013

Summary

Infants initially explore larger objects, but as reaching skills develop, they prefer smaller, graspable items. This shows a shift in infant object exploration driven by motor development.

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Last Updated: May 13, 2026

Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm

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Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

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Published on: April 19, 2017

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Infant Motor Development
Perception-Action Coupling

Background:

Infant object exploration is crucial for cognitive development.
Understanding how visual preferences align with emerging motor skills is key.
Early research suggests visual salience influences infant attention.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how age and reaching experience influence infant looking and reaching preferences for objects of different sizes.
To determine if infants' object exploration is initially driven by visual factors or by potential for manual interaction.
To examine the development of perception-action coupling in object selection.

Main Methods:

Infants aged 4-5 and 5-6 months were presented with pairs of different-sized cylinders.
Outcome variables included looking time, touching time, first look, and first touch for each object.
Data were analyzed based on infant age and their reaching experience levels.

Main Results:

Significant interactions were found between age, reaching status, and object size preference for both looking and touching durations.
Younger infants and those with less reaching experience showed a preference for exploring larger objects.
Older infants with more reaching experience shifted preference to smaller objects, despite initially favoring larger ones for first look/touch.

Conclusions:

Infant object exploration initially relies on general visual salience, independent of manual interaction potential.
The development of reaching skills leads infants to use visual information to select smaller, more graspable objects for exploration.
This highlights a critical period where perception and action become integrated in guiding object-based learning.