title: Not just playing around: infants' behaviors with objects reflect ability, constraints, and object properties.
abstract: This study describes infants' behaviors with objects in relation to age, body position, and object properties. Object behaviors were assessed longitudinally in 22 healthy infants supine, prone, and sitting from birth through 2 years. Results reveal: (1) infants learn to become intense and sophisticated explorers within the first 6 months of life; (2) young infants dynamically and rapidly shift among a variety of behavioral combinations to gather information; (3) behaviors on objects develop along different trajectories so that behavioral profiles vary across time; (4) object behaviors are generally similar in supine and sitting but diminished in prone; and (5) infants begin matching certain behaviors to object properties as newborns. These data demonstrate how infants learn to match their emerging behaviors with changing positional constraints and object affordances.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, The University of Delaware, United States. Electronic address: malobo@udel.edu.
authors.forename: Michele A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lobo
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, The University of Delaware, United States.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kokkoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Carolina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: de Campos
authors.affiliation: Departments of Physical Therapy and Psychology, University of Delaware, United States.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Galloway
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology*; D011187:Posture
keywords: Exploration; Infant; Object; Perceptual-motor development