Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 4, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Learning to crawl
K E Adolph1, B Vereijken, M A Denny
1Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA. adolph@psych.nyu.edu
Insights
Infant crawling development is not stage-based. Early belly crawling experience enhances later hands-and-knees crawling proficiency, independent of age or size.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Motor Development
- Infant Behavior
Background:
- Crawling is a crucial milestone in infant motor development.
- Previous research suggested a fixed progression of crawling stages.
- The influence of prior crawling experience on subsequent motor skills requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the effects of infant age, body dimensions, and crawling experience on motor development.
- To determine if crawling development follows discrete, obligatory stages.
- To understand how early crawling patterns influence later crawling proficiency.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal observation of 28 infants from initial crawling attempts to walking.
- Recording and analysis of various crawling postures (e.g., belly crawling, hands-and-knees crawling).
- Statistical analysis to correlate crawling experience with developmental progression and efficiency.
Main Results:
- Infant crawling development is variable, not adhering to strict, obligatory stages.
- A significant portion of infants skipped belly crawling, proceeding directly to hands-and-knees.
- Duration of experience with earlier crawling forms predicted speed and efficiency in later forms.
- Infants who belly crawled were more proficient at hands-and-knees crawling than those who skipped it.
Conclusions:
- Crawling development is a flexible process, not defined by discrete stages.
- Experience with earlier crawling postures provides transferable benefits to later motor skills.
- Motor skill acquisition is influenced by prior experience, not solely by age or physical dimensions.
Abstract:
The effects of infants' age, body dimensions, and experience on the development of crawling was examined by observing 28 infants longitudinally, from children's first attempts at crawling until they began walking. Although most infants displayed multiple crawling postures en route to walking, development did not adhere to a strict progression of obligatory, discrete stages. In particular, 15 infants crawled on their bellies prior to crawling on hands and knees, but the other 13 infants skipped the belly-crawling period and proceeded directly to crawling on hands and knees. Duration of experience with earlier forms of crawling predicted the speed and efficiency of later, quite different forms of crawling. Most important, infants who had formerly belly crawled were more proficient crawling on hands and knees than infants who had skipped the belly-crawling period. Transfer could not be explained by differences in infants' age or body dimensions alone. Rather, experience using earlier crawling patterns may have exerted beneficial effects on hands-and-knees crawling by shoring up underlying constituents common to all forms of crawling postures.
Related Concept Videos
01:56Gastrulation
01:22Imprinting
01:18Introduction to Learning
In contrast to learned behaviors, unlearned behaviors such as crying, sexual...
01:12Observational Learning
01:22Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
01:14Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...