Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 19, 2025

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

Published on: April 19, 2017

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Early social referencing predicts object mastery motivation in infancy: Social antecedents of object mastery

Amelia Yanchik1, Judith M Gardner2,3, Bernard Z Karmel2,3

  • 1Department of Psychology, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA.

Infancy : the Official Journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
|August 8, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Early social referencing in infants predicts later object mastery skills. This longitudinal study tracked 36 infants from 7 to 22 months, finding early social behaviors are key to later persistence and success.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Infant Behavior
  • Social-Emotional Development

Background:

  • Understanding infant development is crucial for early intervention.
  • Social referencing and object mastery are key developmental milestones in infancy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the developmental trajectories of social referencing and object mastery motivation in infants.
  • To investigate the relationship between social referencing and object mastery behaviors from 7 to 22 months of age.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study tracking 36 at-risk infants.
  • Behavioral assessments of social referencing and object mastery (persistence, success).
  • Statistical analysis to determine age effects and correlations.

Main Results:

  • Object mastery behaviors (persistence, success) significantly increased with age.
  • Social behaviors remained stable across the 7 to 22-month period.
  • Early social referencing at 7-10 months correlated with later object mastery at 16-22 months.

Conclusions:

  • Early social referencing is a significant predictor of later object mastery behaviors in infancy.
  • These findings highlight the interconnectedness of social and cognitive development in early childhood.
  • Further research is warranted to explore this relationship into early childhood.

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