The control of posture in newly standing infants is task dependent.
The postural sway patterns of newly standing infants were compared under two conditions: standing while holding a toy and standing while not holding a toy. Infants exhibited a lower magnitude of postural sway and more complex sway patterns when holding the toy. These changes suggest that infants adapt postural sway in a manner that facilitates visually fixating on and stabilizing the toy in their hand. When simply standing, infants exhibited postural sway patterns that appeared to be more exploratory in nature. Exploratory sway patterns may allow infants to learn the affordances of their new standing posture. These results demonstrate that newly standing infants are capable of task-dependent postural control.
Department of Health and Kinesiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. ljclaxton@purdue.edu
Laura J
LJ
Claxton
Dawn K
DK
Melzer
Joong Hyun
JH
Ryu
Jeffrey M
JM
Haddad
D001288:Attention; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007699:Kinesthesis; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance; D011434:Proprioception; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012931:Social Environment; D016138:Walking; D016474:Weight-Bearing