title: Getting some space: Infants' and caregivers' containment and support spatial constructions during play.
abstract: Using a cross-sectional design, we examined the containment and support spatial constructions infants spontaneously create and those they observe when playing with a nesting toy. Infants (N=76) of 8, 13, or 18months played alone for 2min and then played with a caregiver for another 2min. At 8months, infants created few relations; at 13months, they inserted objects, resulting in containment, and stacked objects, resulting in support; at 18months, they created more than three times more containment relations than support relations, a result replicated in a second study. In contrast, caregivers created more support relations than containment relations, regardless of infant age, but labeled containment more than support. The results highlight differential exposure to containment and support in infant solitary and dyadic play. By 18months, infants gain greater firsthand experience with containment, a relation that is further reinforced by caregiver labeling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. Electronic address: mc272@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Marianella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Casasola
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053, USA.
authors.forename: Jui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bhagwat
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA.
authors.forename: Stacey N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Doan
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Hailey
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Love
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D003210:Concept Formation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009048:Motor Skills; D009949:Orientation; D010988:Play and Playthings; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D065853:Spatial Learning
keywords: Caregiver spatial constructions; Caregiver spatial language; Infant motor skills; Infant play; Infant spatial constructions; Spatial play