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Where Infants Go: Real-Time Dynamics of Locomotor Exploration in Crawling and Walking Infants

Justine E Hoch1, Jaya Rachwani1, Karen E Adolph1

  • 1New York University.

Child Development
|June 7, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Infants

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Infant motor development
  • Locomotion studies

Background:

  • Infants' spontaneous locomotion is often assumed to be goal-directed towards perceived destinations.
  • Previous research suggests limited goal-directed movement in early infant locomotion.
  • Understanding the purpose of infant movement is crucial for developmental insights.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether infants' crawling and walking are primarily directed towards specific destinations.
  • To compare the destination-seeking behavior of crawlers and walkers.
  • To analyze the visual attention and movement patterns during infant locomotion.

Main Methods:

  • Two studies were conducted involving infants aged 10-13 months.
  • Study 1 involved 29 crawlers, analyzing the endpoints of their locomotion bouts.
  • Study 2 compared 16 crawlers and 16 walkers using head-mounted eye tracking to record visual focus and movement paths.

Main Results:

  • Half of the locomotion bouts for 10- and 13-month-old crawlers ended at destinations.
  • 12-month-old crawlers proportionally traveled to more destinations than age-matched walkers.
  • Both crawlers and walkers primarily engaged in in-place stepping while fixating nearby objects; destination-bound movements were direct and short.

Conclusions:

  • Infant locomotion, particularly crawling, can be significantly directed towards destinations, contrary to some assumptions.
  • Crawling infants demonstrate a greater tendency to move towards destinations compared to walking infants of the same age.
  • Infants utilize direct paths to reach fixated targets when engaging in destination-directed locomotion.

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