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Hospodar CM, Adolph KE. The development of gait and mobility: Form and function in infant locomotion. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2024; 15:e1677. [PMID: 38499970 PMCID: PMC11226364 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
The development of locomotion can be described by its form (i.e., gait) and its function (i.e., mobility). Both aspects of locomotion improve with experience. Traditional treatises on infant locomotion focus on form by describing an orderly progression of postural and locomotor milestones en route to characteristic patterns of crawling and walking gait. We provide a traditional treatment of gait by describing developmental antecedents of and improvements in characteristic gait patterns, but we highlight important misconceptions inherent in the notion of "milestones". Most critically, we argue that the prevailing focus on gait and milestones fails to capture the true essence of locomotion-functional mobility to engage with the world. Thus, we also describe the development of mobility, including the use of mobility aids for support and propulsion. We illustrate how infants find individual solutions for mobility and how the ability to move cascades into other domains of development. Finally, we show how an integration of gait and mobility provides insights into the psychological processes that make locomotion functional. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Motor Skill and Performance Psychology > Development and Aging.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
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2
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Franchak JM, Adolph KE. An update of the development of motor behavior. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2024:e1682. [PMID: 38831670 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1682] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 03/31/2024] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024]
Abstract
This primer describes research on the development of motor behavior. We focus on infancy when basic action systems are acquired-posture, locomotion, manual actions, and facial actions-and we adopt a developmental systems perspective to understand the causes and consequences of developmental change. Experience facilitates improvements in motor behavior and infants accumulate immense amounts of varied everyday experience with all the basic action systems. At every point in development, perception guides behavior by providing feedback about the results of just prior movements and information about what to do next. Across development, new motor behaviors provide new inputs for perception. Thus, motor development opens up new opportunities for acquiring knowledge and acting on the world, instigating cascades of developmental changes in perceptual, cognitive, and social domains. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development Psychology > Motor Skill and Performance Neuroscience > Development.
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Affiliation(s)
- John M Franchak
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, USA
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3
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Hoch J, Hospodar C, da Costa Aguiar Alves GK, Adolph K. Variations in infants' physical and social environments shape spontaneous locomotion. Dev Psychol 2024; 60:991-1001. [PMID: 38647471 PMCID: PMC11251348 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Independent locomotion is associated with a range of positive developmental outcomes, but unlike cognitive, linguistic, and social skills, acquiring motor skills requires infants to generate their own input for learning. We tested factors that shape infants' spontaneous locomotion by observing forty 12- to 22-month-olds (19 girls, 21 boys) during free play. Infants were recruited from the New York City area, and caregivers reported that 25 infants were White, six were Asian, four were Black, and five had multiple races; four were Hispanic or Latino. All infants played in four conditions: two environmental conditions (gross-motor toys, fine-motor toys) crossed with two social conditions (alone, together with a caregiver). Infants moved more in the gross-motor toy conditions than in the fine-motor toy conditions. However, the effect of playing with a caregiver differed by toy condition. In the gross-motor toy conditions, playing with a caregiver did not affect how much infants moved, but in the fine-motor toy conditions, playing with a caregiver further depressed infant locomotion. Infants with more walking experience moved more with gross-motor toys but not with fine-motor toys. Differences in the amount of locomotion between conditions were related to how infants used toys and the interactions between infants and caregivers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Justine Hoch
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
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4
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Schroer SE, Yu C. Word learning is hands-on: Insights from studying natural behavior. ADVANCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR 2024; 66:55-79. [PMID: 39074925 DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2024.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/31/2024]
Abstract
Infants' interactions with social partners are richly multimodal. Dyads respond to and coordinate their visual attention, gestures, vocalizations, speech, manual actions, and manipulations of objects. Although infants are typically described as active learners, previous experimental research has often focused on how infants learn from stimuli that is well-crafted by researchers. Recent research studying naturalistic, free-flowing interactions has explored the meaningful patterns in dyadic behavior that relate to language learning. Infants' manual engagement and exploration of objects supports their visual attention, creates salient and diverse views of objects, and elicits labeling utterances from parents. In this chapter, we discuss how the cascade of behaviors created by infant multimodal attention plays a fundamental role in shaping their learning environment, supporting real-time word learning and predicting later vocabulary size. We draw from recent at-home and cross-cultural research to test the validity of our mechanistic pathway and discuss why hands matter so much for learning. Our goal is to convey the critical need for developmental scientists to study natural behavior and move beyond our "tried-and-true" paradigms, like screen-based tasks. By studying natural behavior, the role of infants' hands in early language learning was revealed-though it was a behavior that was often uncoded, undiscussed, or not even allowed in decades of previous research. When we study infants in their natural environment, they can show us how they learn about and explore their world. Word learning is hands-on.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara E Schroer
- The Center for Perceptual Systems, The University of Texas at Austin; Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin.
| | - Chen Yu
- The Center for Perceptual Systems, The University of Texas at Austin; Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin
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5
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Ossmy O, Han D, MacAlpine P, Hoch J, Stone P, Adolph KE. Walking and falling: Using robot simulations to model the role of errors in infant walking. Dev Sci 2024; 27:e13449. [PMID: 37750490 PMCID: PMC10922068 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2023] [Revised: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
What is the optimal penalty for errors in infant skill learning? Behavioral analyses indicate that errors are frequent but trivial as infants acquire foundational skills. In learning to walk, for example, falling is commonplace but appears to incur only a negligible penalty. Behavioral data, however, cannot reveal whether a low penalty for falling is beneficial for learning to walk. Here, we used a simulated bipedal robot as an embodied model to test the optimal penalty for errors in learning to walk. We trained the robot to walk using 12,500 independent simulations on walking paths produced by infants during free play and systematically varied the penalty for falling-a level of precision, control, and magnitude impossible with real infants. When trained with lower penalties for falling, the robot learned to walk farther and better on familiar, trained paths and better generalized its learning to novel, untrained paths. Indeed, zero penalty for errors led to the best performance for both learning and generalization. Moreover, the beneficial effects of a low penalty were stronger for generalization than for learning. Robot simulations corroborate prior behavioral data and suggest that a low penalty for errors helps infants learn foundational skills (e.g., walking, talking, and social interactions) that require immense flexibility, creativity, and adaptability. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: During infant skill acquisition, errors are commonplace but appear to incur a low penalty; when learning to walk, for example, falls are frequent but trivial. To test the optimal penalty for errors, we trained a simulated robot to walk using real infant paths and systematically manipulated the penalty for falling. Lower penalties in training led to better performance on familiar, trained paths and on novel untrained paths, and zero penalty was most beneficial. Benefits of a low penalty were stronger for untrained than for trained paths, suggesting that discounting errors facilitates acquiring skills that require immense flexibility and generalization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ori Ossmy
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development & Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
| | - Danyang Han
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Patrick MacAlpine
- Department of Computer Science, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
| | - Justine Hoch
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Peter Stone
- Department of Computer Science, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
- Sony AI, Austin, Texas, USA
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
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6
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Adolph KE, Froemke RC. How to get rich quick: Using video to enrich psychology and neuroscience research Comment on "Beyond simple laboratory studies: Developing sophisticated models to study rich behavior" by Maselli et al. Phys Life Rev 2024; 48:16-18. [PMID: 38061248 PMCID: PMC11078011 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 02/28/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Karen E Adolph
- Departments of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Applied Psychology, New York University, United States; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, United States.
| | - Robert C Froemke
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University School of Medicine, United States; Departments of Otolaryngology, and Neuroscience and Physiology, New York University School of Medicine, United States
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Rachwani J, Santamaria V, Ai X, Ahlouche S, Caba L, Palazzolo A, Ramirez J, Agrawal S. Infant Sitting and Multi-Directional Reaching Skill. J Mot Behav 2023; 56:109-118. [PMID: 37751896 DOI: 10.1080/00222895.2023.2262428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
We tested twenty-one 6- to 10-month-old infants with a wide range of sitting experience in forward and rightward reaching during unsupported sitting on the floor. Sessions were video-recorded for further behavioral and machine learning-based kinematic analyses. All infants, including novice sitters, successfully touched and grasped toys in both directions. Infant falls, hand support, and base of support changes were rare. Infants with more sitting experience showed better upright posture than novice sitters. However, we found no differences in trunk displacement or reaching kinematics between directions or across sitting experience. Thus, multi-directional reaching is functional in both novice and experienced infant sitters. We suggest that trunk and arm stability in sagittal and frontal planes is integral to learning to sit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaya Rachwani
- Department of Physical Therapy, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA
| | - Victor Santamaria
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Physical Therapy Division, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, USA
| | - Xupeng Ai
- Department of Rehabilitative and Regenerative Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Sara Ahlouche
- Department of Physical Therapy, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA
| | - Laura Caba
- Department of Physical Therapy, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA
| | - Antonia Palazzolo
- Department of Physical Therapy, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA
| | - Jenniffer Ramirez
- Department of Physical Therapy, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA
| | - Sunil Agrawal
- Department of Rehabilitative and Regenerative Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
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8
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Cole WG, Adolph KE. Learning to Move in a Changing Body in a Changing World. Integr Comp Biol 2023; 63:653-663. [PMID: 37355781 PMCID: PMC10503469 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icad083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Revised: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Infants of all species learn to move in the midst of tremendous variability and rapid developmental change. Traditionally, researchers consider variability to be a problem for development and skill acquisition. Here, we argue for a reconsideration of variability in early life, taking a developmental, ecological, systems approach. Using the development of walking in human infants as an example, we argue that the rich, variable experiences of infancy form the foundation for flexible, adaptive behavior in adulthood. From their first steps, infants must cope with changes in their bodies, skills, and environments. Rapid growth spurts and a continually expanding environment of surfaces, elevations, and obstacles alter the biomechanical constraints on balance and locomotion from day to day and moment to moment. Moreover, infants spontaneously generate a variable practice regimen for learning to walk. Self-initiated locomotion during everyday activity consists of immense amounts of variable, time-distributed, error-filled practice. From infants' first steps and continuing unabated over the next year, infants walk in short bursts of activity (not continual steps), follow curved (not straight) paths, and take steps in every direction (not only forward)-all the while, accompanied by frequent falls as infants push their limits (rather than a steady decrease in errors) and explore their environments. Thus, development ensures tremendous variability-some imposed by physical growth, caregivers, and a changing environment outside infants' control, and some self-generated by infants' spontaneous behavior. The end result of such massive variability is a perceptual-motor system adept at change. Thus, infants do not learn fixed facts about their bodies or environments or their level of walking skill. Instead, they learn how to learn-how to gauge possibilities for action, modify ongoing movements, and generate new movements on the fly from step to step. Simply put, variability in early development is a feature, not a bug. It provides a natural training regimen for successfully navigating complex, ever-changing environments throughout the lifespan. Moreover, observations of infants' natural behavior in natural, cluttered environments-rather than eliciting adult-like behaviors under artificial, controlled conditions-yield very different pictures of what infants of any species do and learn. Over-reliance on traditional tasks that artificially constrain variability therefore risks distorting researchers' understanding of the origins of adaptive behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Whitney G Cole
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 4 Washington Place, NY 10003, USA
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 4 Washington Place, NY 10003, USA
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9
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Karasik LB, Adolph KE, Fernandes SN, Robinson SR, Tamis-LeMonda CS. Gahvora cradling in Tajikistan: Cultural practices and associations with motor development. Child Dev 2023; 94:1049-1067. [PMID: 37016553 PMCID: PMC10521344 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 04/06/2023]
Abstract
In Tajikistan, infants are bound supine in a "gahvora" cradle that severely restricts movement. Does cradling affect motor development and body growth? In three studies (2013-2018), we investigated associations between time in the gahvora (within days and across age) and motor skills and flattened head dimensions in 8-24-month-old Tajik infants (N = 269, 133 girls, 136 boys)) and 4.3-5.1-year-old children (N = 91, 53 girls, 38 boys). Infants had later motor onset ages relative to World Health Organization standards and pronounced brachycephaly; cradling predicted walk onset age and the proficiency of sitting, crawling, and walking. By 4-5 years, children's motor skills were comparable with US norms. Cultural differences in early experiences offer a unique lens onto developmental processes and equifinality in development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lana B. Karasik
- College of Staten Island & Graduate Center, CUNY, Staten Island, New York, USA
| | | | - Sara N. Fernandes
- College of Staten Island & Graduate Center, CUNY, Staten Island, New York, USA
- New York University, New York City, New York, USA
| | - Scott R. Robinson
- College of Staten Island & Graduate Center, CUNY, Staten Island, New York, USA
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10
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Price C, Montagnani E, Nester C, Morrison SC. Foot plantar pressure and centre of pressure trajectory differ between straight and turning steps in infants. Sci Rep 2023; 13:7941. [PMID: 37193697 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-34568-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2023] [Indexed: 05/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Plantar pressure has been used to understand loading on infant feet as gait develops. Previous literature focused on straight walking, despite turning accounting for 25% of infant self-directed steps. We aimed to compare centre of pressure and plantar pressure in walking steps in different directions in infants. Twenty-five infants who were walking confidently participated in the study (aged 449 ± 71 days, 96 ± 25 days after first steps). Plantar pressure and video were recorded whilst five steps per infant were combined for three step types: straight, turning inwards and outwards. Centre of pressure trajectory components were compared for path length and velocity. Pedobarographic Statistical Parametric Mapping explored differences in peak plantar pressure for the three step types. Significant differences were identified primarily in the forefoot with higher peak pressures in straight steps. Centre of pressure path was longer in the medial-lateral direction during turning (outward 4.6 ± 2.3, inward 6.8 ± 6.1, straight 3.5 ± 1.2 cm, p < .001). Anterior-posterior velocity was higher in straight steps and medial-lateral velocity highest turning inwards. Centre of pressure and plantar pressures differ between straight and turning steps with greatest differences between straight and turning. Findings may be attributed to walking speed or a function of turning experience and should influence future protocols.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carina Price
- Human Movement and Rehabilitation Research, University of Salford, PO41 Brian Blatchford Building, Frederick Road Campus, Salford, M66PU, UK.
| | - Eleonora Montagnani
- School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton, 204 Aldro Building, 49 Darley Road, Eastbourne, BN20 7UR, UK
| | - Christopher Nester
- School of Allied Health Professions, University of Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK
| | - Stewart C Morrison
- School of Life Course and Population Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College London, Guy's Campus, London, SE1 1UL, UK
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11
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Chen Q, Schneider JL, West KL, Iverson JM. Infant locomotion shapes proximity to adults during everyday play in the U.S. INFANCY 2023; 28:190-205. [PMID: 36180977 PMCID: PMC9899299 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Learning to walk expands infants' access to the physical environment and prompts changes in their communicative behaviors. However, little is known about whether walking also shapes infants' proximity to their adult social partners during everyday activities at home. Here we followed 89 infants (42 boys, 47 girls; 92% White, not Hispanic or Latino) longitudinally and documented connections between infant locomotion and infant-adult proximity on two timescales: (1) across developmental time, by comparing data from a session when infants could only crawl to a later session when they could walk (M walk onset = 12.15 months, range = 8-15); and (2) in real time, by testing whether the amount of time that infants spent in motion (regardless of their locomotor status) related to their interpersonal distance to adults. The developmental transition to walking corresponded to a significant, but modest, decrease in infant-adult proximity. Infants' moment-to-moment locomotion, however, was strongly related to patterns of interpersonal distance: infants who spent more time in motion spent less time near adults and instigated more proximity transitions, resulting in shorter and more dispersed bouts of proximity throughout sessions. Findings shed new light on how infants' motor achievements can reverberate across other domains of development, and how changes in infant development that researchers often observe over months arise from infants' moment-to-moment experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Chen
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA
| | | | - Kelsey L West
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Jana M Iverson
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA
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12
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Calabretta BT, Schneider JL, Iverson JM. Bidding on the go: Links between walking, social actions, and caregiver responses in infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2022; 15:2324-2335. [PMID: 36254470 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The development of walking is associated with a shift in how neurotypical infants initiate social interactions. Walking infants are more likely to locate objects in distant places, carry them, and then share those objects by approaching caregivers and using gestures to show or offer their discoveries (i.e., moving bids). The simultaneous organization of the behaviors necessary to generate moving bids requires the coordination of multiple skills-walking, fine motor skills, and gesturing. Infants with an elevated likelihood (EL) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit differences and delays in each of these behaviors. This study investigated interconnections between infant walking, social actions, and caregiver responses in 18-month-old EL infants with diverse developmental outcomes (ASD, non-ASD language delay, no diagnosis). We observed 85 infant-caregiver dyads at home during everyday activities for 45 minutes and identified all times when infants walked, instances of walking paired with social action (i.e., approaching the caregiver, approaching while carrying an object, producing a moving bid), and whether caregivers responded to their infants' social actions. There were no group differences in infants' production of social actions. Caregiver responses, however, were more clearly modulated by outcome group. While all caregivers were similarly and highly likely to respond to moving bids, caregivers of EL-ASD infants were substantially more likely to respond when their infants simply approached them (with or without an object in hand). Taken together, this research underscores the complexity of EL infant-caregiver interactions and highlights the role that each partner plays in shaping how they unfold.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bianca T Calabretta
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Joshua L Schneider
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Jana M Iverson
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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13
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Loureiro M, Nakamura FY, Ramos A, Coutinho P, Ribeiro J, Clemente FM, Mesquita I, Afonso J. Ongoing Bidirectional Feedback between Planning and Assessment in Educational Contexts: A Narrative Review. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:12068. [PMID: 36231369 PMCID: PMC9564391 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191912068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Quality in education is one of the 17 goals in the United Nations' sustainable agenda for 2030, presupposing careful planning and assessment of learning. Traditional planning in sports education (either in training or school settings) largely adopts pre-determined learning sequences and temporal milestones that, in theory, enhance the learning process. However, learning is a context-dependent, non-linear process with considerable intra- and interindividual variability, whereby planning and assessment should also be non-linear. In this narrative review, the main findings suggest that the specific teaching or training contents and their relative (i.e., ordering or sequencing) and absolute timing (i.e., the specific time point where certain learning or adaptations are expected) should vary depending on the learners and the context. In a process-oriented perspective, this requires flexible planning and the establishment of ongoing bidirectional links between planning and assessment. In this framework, assessment should be a flexible, evolving, and daily pedagogical tool instead of a set of formal checkpoints. We further explored how planning and assessment could be linked to provide an ongoing feedback loop that respects the individuality of each learner and its context, and therefore hope this review helps bring about a change in current planning and assessment paradigms in sports education.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Loureiro
- Centre for Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D), Faculty of Sport of the University of Porto (FADEUP), Rua Dr. Plácido da Costa 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
| | - Fábio Yuzo Nakamura
- Research Centre in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), University of Maia (ISMAI), Av. Carlos de Oliveira Campos, 4475-690 Maia, Portugal
| | - Ana Ramos
- Centre for Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D), Faculty of Sport of the University of Porto (FADEUP), Rua Dr. Plácido da Costa 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
| | - Patrícia Coutinho
- Centre for Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D), Faculty of Sport of the University of Porto (FADEUP), Rua Dr. Plácido da Costa 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
| | - João Ribeiro
- Centre for Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D), Faculty of Sport of the University of Porto (FADEUP), Rua Dr. Plácido da Costa 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
- Football Department, Lusophone University of Porto, 4000-098 Porto, Portugal
| | - Filipe Manuel Clemente
- Escola Superior Desporto e Lazer, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun’Álvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal
- Research Center in Sports Performance, Recreation, Innovation and Technology (SPRINT), 4960-320 Melgaço, Portugal
- Instituto de Telecomunicações, Delegação da Covilhã, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Isabel Mesquita
- Centre for Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D), Faculty of Sport of the University of Porto (FADEUP), Rua Dr. Plácido da Costa 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
| | - José Afonso
- Centre for Research, Education, Innovation, and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D), Faculty of Sport of the University of Porto (FADEUP), Rua Dr. Plácido da Costa 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
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Mendoza JK, Fausey CM. Everyday Parameters for Episode-to-Episode Dynamics in the Daily Music of Infancy. Cogn Sci 2022; 46:e13178. [PMID: 35938844 PMCID: PMC9542518 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Revised: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Experience‐dependent change pervades early human development. Though trajectories of developmental change have been well charted in many domains, the episode‐to‐episode schedules of experiences on which they are hypothesized to depend have not. Here, we took up this issue in a domain known to be governed in part by early experiences: music. Using a corpus of longform audio recordings, we parameterized the daily schedules of music encountered by 35 infants ages 6–12 months. We discovered that everyday music episodes, as well as the interstices between episodes, typically persisted less than a minute, with most daily schedules also including some very extended episodes and interstices. We also discovered that infants encountered music episodes in a bursty rhythm, rather than a periodic or random rhythm, over the day. These findings join a suite of recent discoveries from everyday vision, motor, and language that expand our imaginations beyond artificial learning schedules and enable theorists to model the history‐dependence of developmental process in ways that respect everyday sensory histories. Future theories about how infants build knowledge across multiple episodes can now be parameterized using these insights from infants’ everyday lives.
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Kim JA, Park S, Fetters L, Eckel SP, Kubo M, Sargent B. Quantifying Infant Exploratory Learning. JOURNAL OF MOTOR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT 2022; 10:167-183. [PMID: 37275279 PMCID: PMC10237591 DOI: 10.1123/jmld.2021-0029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
Exploration is considered essential to infant learning, but few studies have quantified infants' task exploration. The purpose of this study was to quantify how infants explored task space with their feet while learning to activate a kick-activated mobile. Data were analyzed from fifteen 4-month-old infants who participated in a 10-min mobile task on 2-3 consecutive days. Infants learned that their vertical leg movements above a systematically increased threshold height activated the mobile. Five kinematic variables were analyzed: 1) exploration space volume, 2) exploration path length, 3) duration of time in the region of interest around the threshold that activated the mobile, 4) task-specific vertical variance of kicks, and 5) non-task-specific horizontal variance of kicks. The infants increased their general spatial exploration, volume and path, and the infants adapted their exploration by maintaining their feet within the region of interest although the task-specific region increased in height as the threshold increased. The infants used task-specific strategies quantified by the increased variance of kicks in the vertical direction and no change in the horizontal variance of kicks. Quantifying infants' task exploration may provide critical insights into how learning emerges in infancy and enable researchers to more systematically describe, interpret, and support learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeong Ah Kim
- Division of Biokinesiology & Physical Therapy, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California, 1540 E. Alcazar St., CHP 155, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
| | - Sungwoo Park
- Division of Biokinesiology & Physical Therapy, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California, 1540 E. Alcazar St., CHP 155, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
| | - Linda Fetters
- Division of Biokinesiology & Physical Therapy, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California, 1540 E. Alcazar St., CHP 155, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
| | - Sandrah P. Eckel
- Division of Biostatistics, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Masayoshi Kubo
- Department of Physical Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata, Japan
| | - Barbara Sargent
- Division of Biokinesiology & Physical Therapy, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California, 1540 E. Alcazar St., CHP 155, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
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16
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Liu W, Mei Q, Yu P, Gao Z, Hu Q, Fekete G, István B, Gu Y. Biomechanical Characteristics of the Typically Developing Toddler Gait: A Narrative Review. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 9:406. [PMID: 35327778 PMCID: PMC8946917 DOI: 10.3390/children9030406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Revised: 03/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Independent ambulation is one of the most important motor skills in typically developing toddlers. Gait analysis is a key evaluation method in basic and clinical research. A narrative review on the literature of toddler gait development was conducted following inclusion criteria, explicitly including the factors of English article, age range, no external intervention during the experimental process of studies involved, the non-symptomatic toddler, and no pathological gait. Studies about toddlers' morphological, physiological, and biomechanical aspects at this developmental stage were identified. Remarkable gait characteristics and specific development rules of toddlers at different ages were reported. Changes in gait biomechanics are age and walking experience-dependent. Gait patterns are related to the maturation of the neuro and musculoskeletal systems. This review thus provides critical and theoretical information and the nature of toddler walking development for clinicians and other scientific researchers. Future studies may systematically recruit subjects with more explicit criteria with larger samples for longitudinal studies. A particular design could be conducted to analyze empirically before practical application. Additionally, the influence of external interventions on the development of toddler gait may need consideration for gait development in the toddler cohort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Liu
- Faculty of Sports Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; (W.L.); (P.Y.); (Z.G.); (Q.H.)
- Research Academy of Grand Health, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
- Faculty of Engineering, University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprém, Hungary;
| | - Qichang Mei
- Faculty of Sports Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; (W.L.); (P.Y.); (Z.G.); (Q.H.)
- Research Academy of Grand Health, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Peimin Yu
- Faculty of Sports Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; (W.L.); (P.Y.); (Z.G.); (Q.H.)
- Research Academy of Grand Health, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Zixiang Gao
- Faculty of Sports Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; (W.L.); (P.Y.); (Z.G.); (Q.H.)
- Research Academy of Grand Health, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
- Faculty of Engineering, University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprém, Hungary;
| | - Qiuli Hu
- Faculty of Sports Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; (W.L.); (P.Y.); (Z.G.); (Q.H.)
| | - Gustav Fekete
- Faculty of Engineering, University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprém, Hungary;
| | - Bíró István
- Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged, 6724 Szeged, Hungary;
| | - Yaodong Gu
- Faculty of Sports Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China; (W.L.); (P.Y.); (Z.G.); (Q.H.)
- Research Academy of Grand Health, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
- Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged, 6724 Szeged, Hungary;
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17
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West KL, Fletcher KK, Adolph KE, Tamis-LeMonda CS. Mothers talk about infants' actions: How verbs correspond to infants' real-time behavior. Dev Psychol 2022; 58:405-416. [PMID: 35286106 PMCID: PMC9012493 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Infants learn nouns during object-naming events-moments when caregivers name the object of infants' play (e.g., ball as infant holds a ball). Do caregivers also label the actions of infants' play (e.g., roll as infant rolls a ball)? We investigated connections between mothers' verb inputs and infants' actions. We video-recorded 32 infant-mother dyads for 2 hr at home (13 month olds, n = 16; 18 month olds, n = 16; girls, n = 16; White, n = 23; Asian, n = 2; Black, n = 1; other, n = 1; multiple races, n = 5; Hispanic/Latinx, n = 2). Dyads were predominantly from middle-class to upper middle-class households. We identified each manual verb (e.g., press, shake) and whole-body verb (e.g., kick, go) that mothers directed to infants. We coded whether infants displayed manual and/or whole-body actions during a 6-s window surrounding the verb (i.e., 3 s prior and 3 s after the named verb). Mothers' verbs and infant actions were largely congruent: Whole-body verbs co-occurred with whole-body actions, and manual verbs co-occurred with manual actions. Moreover, half of mothers' verbs corresponded precisely to infants' concurrent action (e.g., infant pressed button as mother said, "Press the button"). In most instances, mothers commented on rather than instigated infants' actions. Findings suggest that verb learning is embodied, such that infants' motor actions offer powerful cues to verb meanings. Furthermore, our approach highlights the value of cross-domain research integrating infants' developing motor and language skills to understand word learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Abstract
In his target article, Yarkoni prescribes descriptive research as a potential antidote for the generalizability crisis. In our commentary, we offer four guiding principles for conducting descriptive research that is generalizable and enduring: (1) prioritize context over control; (2) let naturalistic observations contextualize structured tasks; (3) operationalize the target phenomena rigorously and transparently; and (4) attend to individual data.
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19
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Price C, Montagnani E, Martinez Santos A, Nester C, Morrison S. Longitudinal study of foot pressures during real-world walking as infants develop from new to confident walkers. Gait Posture 2022; 92:351-358. [PMID: 34920360 DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2021.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 11/11/2021] [Accepted: 12/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Onset of walking in infants leads to regular cyclic loading of the plantar foot surface for the first time. This is a critical period for evolving motor skills and foot structure and function. Plantar pressure literature typically studies gait only once walking is established and under conditions that artificially constrain the walking direction and bouts compared to how infants move in the real-world. We therefore do not know how the foot is loaded when self-directed walking is first achieved and whether it changes as walking is practiced. Research question How do pressures on the plantar foot in real-world walking change from new to confident walking? Methods Fifty-seven infants participated in a two-site longitudinal study. Bespoke child-friendly spaces incorporated large pressure platforms and video. Data was collected at two milestones: new (403 days) and confident (481 days) walking. Steps were defined as walking straight or turning medially/laterally. Pressure variables were calculated for eight-foot regions and compared between milestones. Results Confident walking resulted in more steps (median: 18 v 35) and almost twice as many turning steps. During straight-line steps, confident walking increased peak pressures in the medial heel (median: 99.3 v 106.7kPa, p < .05) and lateral forefoot (median: 53.9 v 65.3kPa, p < .001) and reduced medial toe pressure (median: 98.1 v 80.0kPa, p < .05). Relative medial midfoot contact area reduced (median: 12.4 v 11.2%, p < .05) as absolute foot contact increased. A faster transition across stance and a reduced relative contact time in the forefoot were recorded in confident walking. Significance Pressures change rapidly as walking is initiated with significant differences in foot loading evident within an average 77 days. Importantly, these changes differ in straight and turning walking. Continued reliance on assessment of straight-line walking during early stages of ambulation likely fails to characterise 26% of steps experienced by infant feet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carina Price
- School of Health and Society, University of Salford, Frederick Road Campus, Salford, UK.
| | - Eleonora Montagnani
- School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton, Darley Road Campus, Eastbourne, UK
| | - Ana Martinez Santos
- School of Health and Society, University of Salford, Frederick Road Campus, Salford, UK
| | - Chris Nester
- School of Health and Society, University of Salford, Frederick Road Campus, Salford, UK
| | - Stewart Morrison
- School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton, Darley Road Campus, Eastbourne, UK
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20
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de Barbaro K, Fausey CM. Ten lessons about infants' everyday experiences. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022; 31:28-33. [PMID: 36159505 PMCID: PMC9499013 DOI: 10.1177/09637214211059536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/20/2023]
Abstract
Audio recorders, accelerometers, and cameras that infants wear throughout their everyday lives capture the experiences that are available to shape development. Everyday sensing in infancy reveals patterns within the everyday hubbub that are unknowable using methods that capture shorter, more isolated, or more planned slices of behavior. Here, we review ten lessons learned from recent endeavors that removed researchers from designing or participating in infants' experiences and instead quantified patterns that arose within infants' own spontaneously arising everyday experiences. The striking heterogeneity of experiences - there is no meaningfully "representative" hour of a day, instance of a category, interaction context, or infant - inspires next steps in theory and practice that embrace the complex, dynamic, and multiple pathways of human development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaya de Barbaro
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, SEA 4.208, 108 E. Dean Keaton Stop A8000, Austin, TX 78712-1043
| | - Caitlin M. Fausey
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, 1227 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403
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21
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Herzberg O, Fletcher K, Schatz J, Adolph KE, Tamis-LeMonda CS. Infant exuberant object play at home: Immense amounts of time-distributed, variable practice. Child Dev 2022; 93:150-164. [PMID: 34515994 PMCID: PMC8974536 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Object play yields enormous benefits for infant development. However, little is known about natural play at home where most object interactions occur. We conducted frame-by-frame video analyses of spontaneous activity in two 2-h home visits with 13-month-old crawling infants and 13-, 18-, and 23-month-old walking infants (N = 40; 21 boys; 75% White). Regardless of age, for every infant and time scale, across 10,015 object bouts, object interactions were short (median = 9.8 s) and varied (transitions among dozens of toys and non-toys) but consumed most of infants' time. We suggest that infant exuberant object play-immense amounts of brief, time-distributed, variable interactions with objects-may be conducive to learning object properties and functions, motor skill acquisition, and growth in cognitive, social, and language domains.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jacob Schatz
- Department of Applied Psychology, New York University
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22
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Schneider JL, Iverson JM. Cascades in action: How the transition to walking shapes caregiver communication during everyday interactions. Dev Psychol 2022; 58:1-16. [PMID: 34843275 PMCID: PMC9588170 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
New motor skills supply infants with new possibilities for action and have consequences for development in unexpected places. For example, the transition from crawling to walking is accompanied by gains in other abilities-better ways to move, see the world, and engage in social interactions (e.g., Adolph & Tamis-LeMonda, 2014). Do the developmental changes associated with walking extend to the communicative behaviors of caregivers? Thirty infants (14 boys, 16 girls; 93% White, not Hispanic or Latino) and their caregivers (84% held a college degree or higher) were observed during everyday activities at home during the two-month window surrounding the onset of walking (M infant age = 11.98 months, range = 8.74-14.86). Using a cross-domain coding system, we tracked change in the rates of co-occurrence between infants' locomotor actions and caregivers' concurrent language and gesture input. We examined these relations on two timescales-across developmental time, as infants transitioned from crawling to walking, and in real time based on moment-to-moment differences in infant posture. A consistent pattern of results emerged: compared to crawling, bouts of infant walking were more likely to co-occur with caregiver language and gestures that either requested or described movement or provided information about objects. An effect of infants' real-time behavior was also discovered, such that infants were more likely to hear language from their caregivers when they moved while upright compared to prone. Taken together, findings suggest that the emergence of walking reorganizes the infant-caregiver dyad and sets in motion a developmental cascade that shapes the communication caregivers provide. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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23
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Hospodar CM, Hoch JE, Lee DK, Shrout PE, Adolph KE. Practice and proficiency: Factors that facilitate infant walking skill. Dev Psychobiol 2021; 63:e22187. [PMID: 34674233 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Infant walking skill improves with practice-crudely estimated by elapsed time since walk onset. However, despite the robust relation between elapsed time (months walking) and skill, practice is likely constrained and facilitated by infants' home environments, sociodemographic influences, and spontaneous activity. Individual pathways are tremendously diverse in the timing of walk onset and the trajectory of improvement, and presumably, in the amount and type of practice. So, what factors affect the development of walking skill? We examined the role of months walking, walk onset age, spontaneous locomotor activity, body dimensions, and environmental factors on the development of walking skill in two sociodemographically distinct samples (ns = 38 and 44) of 13-, 15-, and 19-month-old infants. Months walking best predicted how well infants walked, but environmental factors and spontaneous activity explained additional variance in walking skill. Specifically, less crowded homes, a larger percentage of time in spontaneous walking, and a smaller percentage of short walking bouts predicted more mature walking. Walk onset age differed by sample but did not affect walking skill. Findings indicate that elapsed time since walk onset remains a robust predictor of walking skill, but environmental factors and spontaneous activity also contribute to infants' practice, thereby affecting walking skill.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Justine E Hoch
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Do Kyeong Lee
- Department of Kinesiology, California State University, Fullerton, California, USA
| | - Patrick E Shrout
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA
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24
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Mendoza JK, Fausey CM. Quantifying Everyday Ecologies: Principles for Manual Annotation of Many Hours of Infants' Lives. Front Psychol 2021; 12:710636. [PMID: 34552533 PMCID: PMC8450442 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.710636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Everyday experiences are the experiences available to shape developmental change. Remarkable advances in devices used to record infants' and toddlers' everyday experiences, as well as in repositories to aggregate and share such recordings across teams of theorists, have yielded a potential gold mine of insights to spur next-generation theories of experience-dependent change. Making full use of these advances, however, currently requires manual annotation. Manually annotating many hours of everyday life is a dedicated pursuit requiring significant time and resources, and in many domains is an endeavor currently lacking foundational facts to guide potentially consequential implementation decisions. These realities make manual annotation a frequent barrier to discoveries, as theorists instead opt for narrower scoped activities. Here, we provide theorists with a framework for manually annotating many hours of everyday life designed to reduce both theoretical and practical overwhelm. We share insights based on our team's recent adventures in the previously uncharted territory of everyday music. We identify principles, and share implementation examples and tools, to help theorists achieve scalable solutions to challenges that are especially fierce when annotating extended timescales. These principles for quantifying everyday ecologies will help theorists collectively maximize return on investment in databases of everyday recordings and will enable a broad community of scholars—across institutions, skillsets, experiences, and working environments—to make discoveries about the experiences upon which development may depend.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer K Mendoza
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States
| | - Caitlin M Fausey
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States
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25
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Han D, Adolph KE. The impact of errors in infant development: Falling like a baby. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13069. [PMID: 33278863 PMCID: PMC8178414 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2020] [Revised: 10/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
What is the role of errors in infants' acquisition of basic skills such as walking, skills that require immense amounts of practice to become flexible and generative? Do infants change their behaviors based on negative feedback from errors, as suggested by "reinforcement learning" in artificial intelligence, or do errors go largely unmarked so that learning relies on positive feedback? We used falling as a model system to examine the impact of errors in infant development. We examined fall severity based on parent reports of prior falls and videos of 563 falls incurred by 138 13- to 19-month-old infants during free play in a laboratory playroom. Parent reports of notable falls were limited to 33% of infants and medical attention was limited to 2% of infants. Video-recorded falls were typically low-impact events. After falling during free play in the laboratory, infants rarely fussed (4% of falls), caregivers rarely showed concern (8% of falls), and infants were back at play within seconds. Impact forces were mitigated by infants' effective reactive behaviors, quick arrest of the fall before torso or head impact, and small body size. Moreover, falling did not alter infants' subsequent behavior. Infants were not deterred from locomotion or from interacting with the objects and elevations implicated in their falls. We propose that a system that discounts the impact of errors in early stages of development encourages infants to practice basic skills such as walking to the point of mastery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danyang Han
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
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26
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Mendoza JK, Fausey CM. Everyday music in infancy. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13122. [PMID: 34170059 PMCID: PMC8596421 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 03/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Infants enculturate to their soundscape over the first year of life, yet theories of how they do so rarely make contact with details about the sounds available in everyday life. Here, we report on properties of a ubiquitous early ecology in which foundational skills get built: music. We captured daylong recordings from 35 infants ages 6–12 months at home and fully double‐coded 467 h of everyday sounds for music and its features, tunes, and voices. Analyses of this first‐of‐its‐kind corpus revealed two distributional properties of infants’ everyday musical ecology. First, infants encountered vocal music in over half, and instrumental in over three‐quarters, of everyday music. Live sources generated one‐third, and recorded sources three‐quarters, of everyday music. Second, infants did not encounter each individual tune and voice in their day equally often. Instead, the most available identity cumulated to many more seconds of the day than would be expected under a uniform distribution. These properties of everyday music in human infancy are different from what is discoverable in environments highly constrained by context (e.g., laboratories) and time (e.g., minutes rather than hours). Together with recent insights about the everyday motor, language, and visual ecologies of infancy, these findings reinforce an emerging priority to build theories of development that address the opportunities and challenges of real input encountered by real learners.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Caitlin M Fausey
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
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27
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Fish LA, Jones EJH. A survey on the attitudes of parents with young children on in-home monitoring technologies and study designs for infant research. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0245793. [PMID: 33544777 PMCID: PMC7864397 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Remote in-home infant monitoring technologies hold great promise for increasing the scalability and safety of infant research (including in regard to the current Covid-19 pandemic), but remain rarely employed. These technologies hold a number of fundamental challenges and ethical concerns that need addressing to aid the success of this fast-growing field. In particular, the responsible development of such technologies requires caregiver input. We conducted a survey of the opinions of 410 caregivers on the viability, privacy and data access of remote in-home monitoring technologies and study designs. Infant-friendly wearable devices (such as sensing body suits) were viewed favourably. Caregivers were marginally more likely to accept video and audio recording in the home if data was anonymised (through automated processing) at point of collection, particularly when observations were lengthy. Caregivers were more open to international data sharing for anonymous data. Caregivers were interested in viewing all types of data, but were particularly keen to access video and audio recordings for censoring purposes (i.e., to delete data segments). Taken together, our results indicate generally positive attitudes to remote in-home monitoring technologies and studies for infant research but highlight specific considerations such as safety, privacy and family practicalities (e.g. multiple caregivers, visitors and varying schedules) that must be taken into account when developing future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel A. Fish
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Emily J. H. Jones
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
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28
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Levin HI, Egger D, Andres L, Johnson M, Bearman SK, de Barbaro K. Sensing everyday activity: Parent perceptions and feasibility. Infant Behav Dev 2021; 62:101511. [PMID: 33465730 PMCID: PMC9128842 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2020] [Revised: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Mobile and wearable sensors provide a unique opportunity to capture the daily activities and interactions that shape developmental trajectories, with potential to revolutionize the study of development (de Barbaro, 2019). However, developmental research employing sensors is still in its infancy, and parents' comfort using these devices is uncertain. This exploratory report assesses parent willingness to participate in sensor studies via a nationally representative survey (N = 210) and live recruitment of a low-income, minority population for an ongoing study (N = 359). The survey allowed us to assess how protocol design influences acceptability, including various options for devices and datastream resolution, conditions of data sharing, and feedback. By contrast, our recruitment data provided insight into parents' true willingness to participate in a sensor study, with a protocol including 72 h of continuous audio, motion, and physiological data. Our results indicate that parents are relatively conservative when considering participation in sensing studies. However, nearly 41 % of surveyed parents reported that they would be at least somewhat willing to participate in studies with audio or video recordings, 26 % were willing or extremely willing, and 14 % reported being extremely willing. These results roughly paralleled our recruitment results, where 58 % of parents indicated interest, 29 % of parents scheduled to participate, and 10 % ultimately participated. Additionally, 70 % of caregivers stated their reason for not participating in the study was due to barriers unrelated to sensing while about 25 % noted barriers due to either privacy concerns or the physical sensors themselves. Parents' willingness to collect sensitive datastreams increased if data stayed within the household for individual use only, are shared anonymously with researchers, or if parents receive feedback from devices. Overall, our findings suggest that given the correct circumstances, mobile sensors are a feasible and promising tool for characterizing children's daily interactions and their role in development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah I Levin
- School of Communication, Northwestern University, United States.
| | - Dominique Egger
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, United States
| | - Lara Andres
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, United States
| | - Mckensey Johnson
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, United States
| | - Sarah Kate Bearman
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, United States
| | - Kaya de Barbaro
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, United States
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29
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Hoch JE, Ossmy O, Cole WG, Hasan S, Adolph KE. "Dancing" Together: Infant-Mother Locomotor Synchrony. Child Dev 2021; 92:1337-1353. [PMID: 33475164 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Pre-mobile infants and caregivers spontaneously engage in a sequence of contingent facial expressions and vocalizations that researchers have referred to as a social "dance." Does this dance continue when both partners are free to move across the floor? Locomotor synchrony was assessed in 13- to 19-month-old infant-mother dyads (N = 30) by tracking each partner's step-to-step location during free play. Although infants moved more than mothers, dyads spontaneously synchronized their locomotor activity. For 27 dyads, the spatiotemporal path of one partner uniquely identified the path of the other. Clustering analyses revealed two patterns of synchrony (mother-follow and yo-yo), and infants were more likely than mothers to lead the dance. Like face-to-face synchrony, locomotor synchrony scaffolds infants' interactions with the outside world.
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Micheletti M, de Barbaro K, Fellows MD, Hixon JG, Slatcher RB, Pennebaker JW. Optimal sampling strategies for characterizing behavior and affect from ambulatory audio recordings. JOURNAL OF FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY : JFP : JOURNAL OF THE DIVISION OF FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (DIVISION 43) 2020; 34:980-990. [PMID: 32271036 PMCID: PMC7544678 DOI: 10.1037/fam0000654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Advances in mobile and wearable technologies mean it is now feasible to record hours to days of participant behavior in its naturalistic context, a great boon for psychologists interested in family processes and development. While automated activity recognition algorithms exist for a limited set of behaviors, time-consuming human annotations are still required to robustly characterize the vast majority of behavioral and affective markers of interest. This report is the first to date which systematically tests the efficacy of different sampling strategies for characterizing behavior from audio recordings to provide practical guidelines for researchers. Using continuous audio recordings of the daily lives of 11 preschool-aged children, we compared sampling techniques to determine the most accurate and efficient approach. Results suggest that sampling both low and high frequency verbal and overt behaviors is best if samples are short in duration, systematically rather than randomly selected, and sampled to cover at least 12.5% of recordings. Implications for assessment of real-world behavior are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Klotzbier TJ, Bühler K, Holfelder B, Schott N. Exploring motor-cognitive interference in children with Down syndrome using the Trail-Walking-Test. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2020; 106:103769. [PMID: 32979845 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2020] [Revised: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 08/19/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS The dual-task (DT) paradigm is an ecologically valid approach to assess cognitive function in relation with motor demands, particularly for children with Down syndrome (DS). This study aimed to determine DT performance for a complex Change-of-Direction (CoD_W) walking task in children with DS. METHODS The sample included 12 children with DS (10.2 ± 1.19 years), 12 typically developing (TD) children matched for chronological (TD-CA: 10.2 ± 1.19 years) and 12 TD children matched for mental age (TD-MA: 5.50 ± 1.24 years). We examined DT performance with the Trail-Walking-Test (TWT): participants (1) walked along a fixed pathway, following a prescribed path, delineated by target markers of (2) increasing sequential numbers, and (3) increasing sequential numbers and letters. Motor and cognitive dual-task costs (DTC) were calculated. RESULTS For the TWT, an ANOVA with repeated measures revealed significant differences between DS and the CA, but not the MA group. Overall, there were significant decreases in speed with increasing cognitive demands. In addition, all children produced higher cognitive compared to motor DTC, which were more pronounced in the cognitively more challenging condition. CONCLUSION The assessment of motor and cognitive performance in a DT paradigm provided insight in how motor and/or cognitive impairment constrains the ability of children to successfully perform activities in a complex and dynamical environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Jürgen Klotzbier
- Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 28, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
| | - Katharina Bühler
- Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 28, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
| | - Benjamin Holfelder
- Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 28, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
| | - Nadja Schott
- Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 28, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
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In-Home Mobility Training With a Portable Body Weight Support System of an Infant With Down Syndrome. Pediatr Phys Ther 2020; 32:E76-E82. [PMID: 32991571 DOI: 10.1097/pep.0000000000000752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE To report on the feasibility of an open-area, portable body weight support system (PBWSS) for in-home use and overground mobility training in an infant with Down syndrome. SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS The family used the PBWSS on average 4 days/week and for a mean duration of 27.9 minutes/day. Within sessions, the infant's mobility in the open area was greater with PBWSS assistance. The infant's mobility increased whereas variable trends were noted in the infant's motor, language, and cognitive development. CONCLUSIONS The long-term and frequent use of the PBWSS by this family provided opportunities to practice on emerging motor skills and exploratory actions that may have had a positive effect on her mobility and overall development. RECOMMENDATION FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE High-dose, body weight-supported training on emerging motor skills is feasible in the infants' natural environments. Future studies using a large sample will quantify the effects.
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Adolph KE. Oh, Behave!: PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, XXth International Conference on Infant Studies New Orleans, LA, US May 2016. INFANCY 2020; 25:374-392. [PMID: 33100922 PMCID: PMC7580788 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 10/30/2019] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Behavior is essential for understanding infant learning and development. Although behavior is transient and ephemeral, we have the technology to make it tangible and enduring. Video uniquely captures and preserves the details of behavior and the surrounding context. By sharing videos for documentation and data reuse, we can exploit the tremendous opportuni-ties provided by infancy research and overcome the important challenges in studying behavior. The Datavyu video coding software and Databrary digital video library provide tools and infrastructure for mining and sharing the richness of video. This article is based on my Presidential Address to the International Congress on Infant Studies in New Orleans, May 22, 2016 (Video 1 at https://www.databrary.org/volume/955/slot/39352/-?asset=190106. Given that the article de-scribes the power of video for understanding behavior, I use video clips rather than static images to illustrate most of my points, and the videos are shared on the Databrary library.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
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Mowbray R, Cowie D. Mind your step: learning to walk in complex environments. Exp Brain Res 2020; 238:1455-1465. [PMID: 32405684 PMCID: PMC7286854 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-05821-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2020] [Accepted: 04/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
In everyday contexts, children must respond to both self-related constraints (their own skills and abilities) and environmental constraints (external obstacles and goals). How do young children simultaneously accommodate these to support skilled and flexible behaviour? We used walking in a complex environment as a testbed for two hypotheses. Hypothesis 1: children will accommodate the self-related constraint of high foot placement variability via dynamic scaling. Hypothesis 2: children will plan ahead, even in complex environments. In our task, 3- to 5-year-olds and adults walked over obstacle sequences of varying complexity. We measured foot placement around the first obstacle in the sequence. Hypothesis 1 was partially supported. In simple, single obstacle environments, children engaged in dynamic scaling like adults. Those with more variable foot placement left greater margins of error between the feet and the obstacle. However, in complex, multiple obstacle settings, children employed large, un-tailored margins of error. This parallels other multisensory tasks in which children do not rely on the relative variability of sensory inputs. Hypothesis 2 was supported. Like adults, children planned ahead for environmental constraints. Children adjusted foot placement around the first obstacle depending on the upcoming obstacle sequence. In doing so, they demonstrate surprisingly sophisticated planning. We, therefore, show that in the motor domain, even very young children simultaneously control both self-related and environmental constraints. This allows flexible, safe and efficient behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Mowbray
- Department of Psychology, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.
| | - Dorothy Cowie
- Department of Psychology, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
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35
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Hoch JE, Rachwani J, Adolph KE. Where Infants Go: Real-Time Dynamics of Locomotor Exploration in Crawling and Walking Infants. Child Dev 2020; 91:1001-1020. [PMID: 31168800 PMCID: PMC6893075 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Where do infants go? A longstanding assumption is that infants primarily crawl or walk to reach destinations viewed while stationary. However, many bouts of spontaneous locomotion do not end at new people, places, or things. Study 1 showed that half of 10- and 13-month-old crawlers' (N = 29) bouts end at destinations-more than previously found with walkers. Study 2 confirmed that, although infants do not commonly go to destinations, 12-month-old crawlers go to proportionally more destinations than age-matched walkers (N = 16). Head-mounted eye tracking revealed that crawlers and walkers mostly take steps in place while fixating something within reach. When infants do go to a destination, they take straight, short paths to a target fixated while stationary.
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36
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Franchak JM. The ecology of infants’ perceptual-motor exploration. Curr Opin Psychol 2020; 32:110-114. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2019] [Revised: 06/24/2019] [Accepted: 06/26/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Yamamoto H, Sato A, Itakura S. Transition From Crawling to Walking Changes Gaze Communication Space in Everyday Infant-Parent Interaction. Front Psychol 2020; 10:2987. [PMID: 32116864 PMCID: PMC7025586 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2019] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Acquisition of walking changes not only infants' locomotion itself but also infants' exploratory behavior and social interaction, such as gaze communication. To understand the ecological context in which gaze communication occurs and how it changes with walking development from the point of view of the spatial arrangement of infants, parents, and objects, we analyzed longitudinal data of daily eye contact scenes recorded from head-mounted eye trackers worn by parents as infants grew from 10 to 15.5 months, focusing on infant-parent distance and the number of objects between the dyad. A Bayesian state-space model revealed that the interpersonal distance at which infants initiated eye contact with their parents increased with the time ratio of walking to crawling. This result could not be explained by the developmental change in the amount of time that the infants were far from the parents, which is not limited to the gaze communication context. Moreover, the interpersonal distance at which the parents initiated eye contact with the infants did not increase with the time ratio of walking to crawling. The number of objects on the floor between infants and parents at the time of eye contact increased with interpersonal distance. Taken together, these results indicate that the transition from crawling to walking changes the ecological context in which infants initiate gaze communication to a visual environment characterized by a larger interpersonal distance and, therefore, more objects cluttered between the dyad. The present study has wider implications for the developmental change of shared attention in conjunction with walking development.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Atsushi Sato
- Faculty of Human Development, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Shoji Itakura
- Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
- Center for Baby Science, Doshisha University, Kizugawa, Japan
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38
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Abstract
The ecological approach is a framework for studying the behavior of animals in their environments. My version of an ecological approach focuses on learning in the context of development. I argue that the most important thing animals learn is behavioral flexibility. They must acquire the ability to flexibly guide their behavior from moment to moment in the midst of developmental changes in their bodies, brains, skills, and environments. They must select, modify, and create behaviors appropriate to the current situation. In essence, animals must learn how to learn. I describe the central concepts and empirical strategies for studying learning in development and use examples of infants coping with novel tasks to give a flavor of what researchers know and still must discover about the functions and processes of learning (to learn) in (not and) development.
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39
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Heiman CM, Cole WG, Lee DK, Adolph KE. Object interaction and walking: Integration of old and new skills in infant development. INFANCY 2019; 24:547-569. [PMID: 31244556 PMCID: PMC6594405 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2018] [Accepted: 03/07/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Manual skills such as reaching, grasping, and exploring objects appear months earlier in infancy than locomotor skills such as walking. To what extent do infants incorporate an old skill (manual actions on objects) into the development of a new skill (walking)? We video recorded 64 sessions of infants during free play in a laboratory playroom. Infants' age (12.7-19.5 months), walking experience (0.5-10.3 months), and walking proficiency (speed, step length, etc.) varied widely. We found that the earlier developing skills of holding and exploring objects are immediately incorporated into the later developing skill of walking. Although holding incurred a reliable cost to infants' gait patterns, holding and exploring objects in hand were relatively common activities, and did not change with development. Moreover, holding objects was equally common in standing and walking. However, infants did not interact with objects indiscriminately: Object exploration was more frequent while standing than walking, and infants selectively chose lighter objects to carry and explore. Findings suggest that the earlier appearance of some skills may serve to motivate and enrich later appearing skills.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Whitney G Cole
- Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
| | - Do Kyeong Lee
- Department of Kinesiology, California State University Fullerton, USA
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de Barbaro K. Automated sensing of daily activity: A new lens into development. Dev Psychobiol 2019; 61:444-464. [PMID: 30883745 PMCID: PMC7343175 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2018] [Revised: 10/09/2018] [Accepted: 11/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Rapidly maturing technologies for sensing and activity recognition can provide unprecedented access to the complex structure daily activity and interaction, promising new insight into the mechanisms by which experience shapes developmental outcomes. Motion data, autonomic activity, and "snippets" of audio and video recordings can be conveniently logged by wearable sensors (Lazer et al., 2009). Machine learning algorithms can process these signals into meaningful markers, from child and parent behavior to outcomes such as depression or teenage drinking. Theoretically motivated aspects of daily activity can be combined and synchronized to examine reciprocal effects between children's behaviors and their environments or internal processes. Captured over longitudinal time, such data provide a new opportunity to study the processes by which individual differences emerge and stabilize. This paper introduces the reader to developments in sensing and activity recognition with implications for developmental phenomena across the lifespan, sketching a framework for leveraging mobile sensors for transactional analyses that bridge micro- and longitudinal- timescales of development. It finishes by detailing resources and best practices to facilitate the next generation of developmentalists to contribute to this emerging area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaya de Barbaro
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
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41
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Hoch JE, O'Grady SM, Adolph KE. It's the journey, not the destination: Locomotor exploration in infants. Dev Sci 2019; 22:e12740. [PMID: 30176103 PMCID: PMC6391171 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2017] [Accepted: 08/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
What incites infant locomotion? Recent research suggests that locomotor exploration is not primarily directed toward distant people, places, or things. However, this question has not been addressed experimentally. In the current study, we asked whether a room filled with toys designed to encourage locomotion (stroller, ball, etc.) elicits different quantities or patterns of exploration than a room with no toys. Caregivers were present but did not interact with infants. Although most walking bouts in the toy-filled room involved toys, to our surprise, 15-month-olds in both rooms produced the same quantity of locomotion. This finding suggests that mere space to move is sufficient to elicit locomotion. However, infants' patterns of locomotor exploration differed: Infants in the toy-filled room spent a smaller percent of the session within arms' reach of their caregiver and explored more locations in the room. Real-time analyses show that infants in the toy-filled room took an increasing number of steps per bout and covered more area as the session continued, whereas infants in the no-toy room took fewer and fewer steps per bout and traveled repeatedly over the same ground. Although not required to elicit locomotion, moving with toys encouraged infants to travel farther from their caregivers and to explore new areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justine E Hoch
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York City, New York
| | | | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York City, New York
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42
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Abstract
Motor development and psychological development are fundamentally related, but researchers typically consider them separately. In this review, we present four key features of infant motor development and show that motor skill acquisition both requires and reflects basic psychological functions. ( a) Motor development is embodied: Opportunities for action depend on the current status of the body. ( b) Motor development is embedded: Variations in the environment create and constrain possibilities for action. ( c) Motor development is enculturated: Social and cultural influences shape motor behaviors. ( d) Motor development is enabling: New motor skills create new opportunities for exploration and learning that instigate cascades of development across diverse psychological domains. For each of these key features, we show that changes in infants' bodies, environments, and experiences entail behavioral flexibility and are thus essential to psychology. Moreover, we suggest that motor development is an ideal model system for the study of psychological development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA;
| | - Justine E Hoch
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA;
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43
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Cole WG, Vereijken B, Young JW, Robinson SR, Adolph KE. Use it or lose it? Effects of age, experience, and disuse on crawling. Dev Psychobiol 2018; 61:29-42. [PMID: 30447002 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2018] [Revised: 09/23/2018] [Accepted: 09/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
What happens to early acquired but later abandoned motor skills? To investigate effects of disuse on early-developing motor skills, we examined crawling in two groups of habitual crawlers (34 6-12-month-old infants and five adults with Uner Tan Syndrome) and two groups of rusty crawlers (27 11-12-year-old children and 13 college-aged adults). Habitual crawlers showed striking similarities in gait patterns, limbs supporting the body, and crawling speed, despite dramatic differences in crawling practice, posture, and body size. Habitual crawlers trotted predominantly, whereas rusty crawlers showed a variety of gait patterns. Within sequences, habitual crawlers and children showed more switches in gait patterns than young adults. Children crawled faster and kept fewer limbs on the grounds than the other groups. Old crawling patterns were retained despite disuse, but new ones were also added. Surprisingly, results indicate that nothing was lost with disuse, but some features of crawling were gained or altered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Whitney G Cole
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York City, New York
| | - Beatrix Vereijken
- Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Jesse W Young
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio
| | | | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York City, New York
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44
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Adolph KE, Hoch JE, Cole WG. Development (of Walking): 15 Suggestions. Trends Cogn Sci 2018; 22:699-711. [PMID: 30032744 PMCID: PMC6145857 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Revised: 05/02/2018] [Accepted: 05/28/2018] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Although a fundamental goal of developmental science is to identify general processes of change, developmental scientists rarely generalize beyond their specific content domains. As a first step toward a more unified approach to development, we offer 15 suggestions gleaned from a century of research on infant walking. These suggestions collectively address the multi-leveled nature of change processes, cascades of real-time and developmental events, the diversity of developmental trajectories, inter- and intraindividual variability, starting and ending points of development, the natural input for learning, and the roles of body, environment, and sociocultural context. We argue that these 15 suggestions are not limited to motor development, and we encourage researchers to consider them within their own areas of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen E Adolph
- Psychology Department, 4 Washington Place, Room 415, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
| | - Justine E Hoch
- Psychology Department, 4 Washington Place, Room 415, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - Whitney G Cole
- Psychology Department, 4 Washington Place, Room 415, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
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45
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Ossmy O, Hoch JE, MacAlpine P, Hasan S, Stone P, Adolph KE. Variety Wins: Soccer-Playing Robots and Infant Walking. Front Neurorobot 2018; 12:19. [PMID: 29867427 PMCID: PMC5954208 DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2018.00019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2017] [Accepted: 04/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Although both infancy and artificial intelligence (AI) researchers are interested in developing systems that produce adaptive, functional behavior, the two disciplines rarely capitalize on their complementary expertise. Here, we used soccer-playing robots to test a central question about the development of infant walking. During natural activity, infants' locomotor paths are immensely varied. They walk along curved, multi-directional paths with frequent starts and stops. Is the variability observed in spontaneous infant walking a "feature" or a "bug?" In other words, is variability beneficial for functional walking performance? To address this question, we trained soccer-playing robots on walking paths generated by infants during free play and tested them in simulated games of "RoboCup." In Tournament 1, we compared the functional performance of a simulated robot soccer team trained on infants' natural paths with teams trained on less varied, geometric paths-straight lines, circles, and squares. Across 1,000 head-to-head simulated soccer matches, the infant-trained team consistently beat all teams trained with less varied walking paths. In Tournament 2, we compared teams trained on different clusters of infant walking paths. The team trained with the most varied combination of path shape, step direction, number of steps, and number of starts and stops outperformed teams trained with less varied paths. This evidence indicates that variety is a crucial feature supporting functional walking performance. More generally, we propose that robotics provides a fruitful avenue for testing hypotheses about infant development; reciprocally, observations of infant behavior may inform research on artificial intelligence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ori Ossmy
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Justine E Hoch
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Patrick MacAlpine
- Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Shohan Hasan
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Peter Stone
- Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, United States
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46
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Smith LB, Jayaraman S, Clerkin E, Yu C. The Developing Infant Creates a Curriculum for Statistical Learning. Trends Cogn Sci 2018. [PMID: 29519675 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
New efforts are using head cameras and eye-trackers worn by infants to capture everyday visual environments from the point of view of the infant learner. From this vantage point, the training sets for statistical learning develop as the sensorimotor abilities of the infant develop, yielding a series of ordered datasets for visual learning that differ in content and structure between timepoints but are highly selective at each timepoint. These changing environments may constitute a developmentally ordered curriculum that optimizes learning across many domains. Future advances in computational models will be necessary to connect the developmentally changing content and statistics of infant experience to the internal machinery that does the learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda B Smith
- Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
| | - Swapnaa Jayaraman
- Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
| | - Elizabeth Clerkin
- Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
| | - Chen Yu
- Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
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47
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Rachwani J, Soska KC, Adolph KE. Behavioral flexibility in learning to sit. Dev Psychobiol 2017; 59:937-948. [PMID: 29071706 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2017] [Accepted: 08/25/2017] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
What do infants learn when they learn to sit upright? We tested behavioral flexibility in learning to sit-the ability to adapt posture to changes in the environment-in 6- to 9-month-old infants sitting on forward and backward slopes. Infants began with slant at 0°; then slant increased in 2° increments until infants lost balance. Infants kept balance on impressively steep slopes, especially in the forward direction, despite the unexpected movements of the apparatus. Between slant adjustments while the slope was stationary, infants adapted posture to the direction and degree of slant by leaning backward on forward slopes and forward on backward slopes. Postural adaptations were nearly optimal for backward slopes. Sitting experience predicted greater postural adaptations and increased ability to keep balance on steeper changes of slant, but only for forward slopes. We suggest that behavioral flexibility is integral to learning to sit and increases with sitting experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaya Rachwani
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York
| | - Kasey C Soska
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York
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