Work

A new twist on old ideas: how sitting reorients crawlers

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Traditionally, crawling and sitting are considered distinct motor behaviors with different postures and functions. Ten- to 12-month-old infants were observed in the laboratory or in their homes while being coaxed to crawl continuously over long, straight walkways (Study 1; N = 20) and during spontaneous crawling during free play (Study 2; N = 20). In every context, infants stopped crawling to sit 3-6 times per minute. Transitions from crawling to sitting frequently turned infants' bodies away from the direction of heading; subsequent transitions back to crawling were offset by as much as 180° from the original direction of heading. Apparently, body reorientations result from the biomechanics of transitioning between crawling and sitting. Findings indicate that sustained, linear crawling is likely an epiphenomenon of how gait is studied in standard paradigms. Postural transitions between crawling and sitting are ubiquitous and can represent a functional unit of action. These transitions and the accompanying body reorientations likely have cascading effects for infants' exploration, visual perception, and spatial cognition.

Source: Developmental Science

DOI: 10.1111/desc.12205

Authors: Kasey C. Soska, Scott R. Robinson, Karen E. Adolph

Institutions: Florida International University, New York University

Language: English

Topic: Children's Physical and Motor Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Society for Research in Child Development, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Award: Flexibility of Learning in Infant Skill Acquisition