Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 17, 2026
19:15
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
88.3K
Infant Social Development across the Transition from Crawling to Walking
1Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced Merced, CA, USA.
Frontiers in Psychology
|July 23, 2016
Summary
Learning to walk enhances infant social engagement and parent perception. Infant walking experience also predicts language development, particularly receptive vocabulary.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Infant Motor Development
- Language Acquisition
Background:
- The transition to independent walking is a critical developmental milestone.
- Limited research exists on the cascading effects of walking onset on infant development.
- Understanding this transition is key to comprehending early social and language learning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To longitudinally examine how acquiring walking impacts infant social development.
- To investigate changes in parent perceptions of the infant post-walking onset.
- To explore the relationship between walking, social cues, parent perception, and infant language development.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study design with parent-reported data collected bi-weekly from 10.5 to 13 months.
- Utilized mixed linear models to analyze developmental changes.
- Assessed infant social behaviors, parent perceptions, and motor/language development.
Main Results:
- Infant joint engagement initiation and cue following increased significantly post-walking onset.
- Parents' perception of their infant as an individual also increased.
- Infant walking experience predicted both receptive and productive language development.
Conclusions:
- Walking acquisition is linked to enhanced infant social interaction and parent-child perception.
- Infant social cue following and parent perception correlate with receptive vocabulary.
- Walking experience is a significant predictor of overall infant language development.
Related Concept Videos
01:14Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
2.3K
The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...
Exploration...
2.3K
01:30Socioemotional Development during Infancy
1.1K
Socio-emotional development in infancy is primarily shaped by early emotional responses and social connections, with temperament playing a central role. Temperament refers to the consistent patterns in an individual's emotional and behavioral responses, observable even in infancy. By examining temperament, researchers can better understand an infant's unique ways of interacting with the world, influencing subsequent personality and socio-emotional growth.
Primary Temperament Types
Primary Temperament Types
1.1K
01:28Relationship with Parents: Attachment
320
Parent-child interactions lay the foundation for how we understand relationships throughout life. These interactions are not uniform across families; instead, they are shaped by a range of environmental, emotional, and behavioral factors unique to each caregiver-child dynamic. Social psychologists study these early relationships to understand how patterns formed in infancy influence social functioning and interpersonal behavior in adulthood.Attachment Theory and Early Relational ModelsJohn...
320
01:28Erikson's Theory on Socioemotional Development during Childhood
2.0K
Erik Erikson, a stage theorist, adapted Freud's theory to emphasize social factors in personality development throughout life, a concept known as psychosocial development. Unlike Freud, who focused on early childhood, Erikson believed that personality evolves across eight life stages, each marked by a specific challenge or "crisis." Successful resolution of each stage fosters competence, while failure may lead to feelings of inadequacy.
The first four of Erikson's eight...
The first four of Erikson's eight...
2.0K
01:27Introduction to Developmental Psychology
2.0K
Developmental psychology explores the changes and continuities in human abilities throughout life, encompassing physical, cognitive, linguistic, and social dimensions. Human development is not restricted to growth, but includes aspects of decline, particularly in physical abilities as individuals age. Developmental psychologists seek to understand how people change as they age and how their mental and social skills evolve.Developmental MilestonesA key concept in developmental psychology is...
2.0K
01:24Social Foundations of Self I: Play and Game
301
The development of self in children is deeply rooted in social interactions, mainly through stages of play and structured games. These stages, outlined by sociologist George Herbert Mead, illustrate how children progressively learn to understand and adopt social roles, forming a cohesive sense of self.The Play Stage: Imitation and Simple Role-TakingIn the early years of childhood, the play stage is characterized by imitative behavior, where children engage in role-playing based on familiar...
301