Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 26, 2025

Shallow Water Paddling Variants of Water Maze Tests in Mice
Published on: June 3, 2013
Do infants avoid a traversable slope leading into deep water?
Carolina Burnay1,2, Chris Button1, Rita Cordovil3
1School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Abstract:
Ramps used to access swimming pools are designed with a shallow slope that affords easy access for all including infants. Locomotor experience has been linked to infants' avoidance of falling into the water from drop-offs; however, the effect of such experience on infants' behavior when a slope is offered to access the water has not been addressed. Forty-three crawling infants (Mage = 10.63 ± 1.91 months; Mcrawling = 2.38 ± 1.77 months) and 34 walking infants (Mage = 14.90 ± 2.18 months; Mwalking = 2.59 ± 1.56 months) were tested on a new Water Slope paradigm, a sloped surface (10°) leading to deep water. No association between infants' avoidance of submersion and locomotor experience was found. Comparison with the results of infants' behavior on the water cliff revealed that a greater proportion of infants reached the submersion point on the water slope than fell into the water cliff. Collectively, these results indicate a high degree of specificity in which locomotor experience teaches infants about risky situations. Importantly, sloped access to deep water appears to increase the risk of infants moving into the water thereby making them more vulnerable to drowning.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...
Design Example: Maintaining Level of an Embankment
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
Buoyancy and Stability for Submerged and Floating Bodies
Attachment
The Nativist Approach

