Spatial Exploration and Changes in Infant–Mother Dyads Around Transitions in Infant Locomotion

Infants’ motor skill development triggers changes in parent–infant interactions, exploration, and play behaviors, particularly during periods of locomotor transitions. We investigated how these transitions reorganized infants’ and mothers’ explorations of spatial layouts. Thirteen infants and their mothers were followed biweekly from the age of 6 to 17 months. This report focused on 2 periods of 6 sessions surrounding infants’ hands-and-knees crawling and walking onsets. Infants’ and mothers’ activities were monitored during 10-min free-play sessions held in a laboratory room provided with toys and furniture. Using location coordinates for the mother and infant, we derived several measures of spatial displacement and exploration as both mother and infant moved around the room. We also observed variations in mothers’ and infants’ interactive behaviors and postural changes within and across sessions. Infants increased interactive behaviors, traveled further distances, and visited more places in the room over time than their mothers. This increase occurred particularly after infants became experienced hands-and-knees crawlers. The distance between infant and mother and number of postural changes also increased as infants became more mobile. This study reveals that mother–infant explorations of spatial layouts diversify and reorganize over time as infants develop new locomotor skills.

[1]  Jill A. Dosso,et al.  Crawling and walking infants encounter objects differently in a multi-target environment , 2014, Experimental Brain Research.

[2]  D. Pierce,et al.  Informing early intervention through an occupational science description of infant-toddler interactions with home space. , 2009, The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association.

[3]  Joseph J Campos,et al.  Infant language development is related to the acquisition of walking. , 2014, Developmental psychology.

[4]  Melissa W. Clearfield,et al.  Socioeconomic status affects oral and manual exploration across the first year. , 2014, Infant mental health journal.

[5]  James A. Green,et al.  Changes in infants' affect related to the onset of independent locomotion. , 2011, Infant behavior & development.

[6]  Melissa W. Clearfield,et al.  Sex Differences in Mothers' Speech and Play Behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-Month-Old Infants , 2006 .

[7]  M. Bornstein,et al.  Physically Developed and Exploratory Young Infants Contribute to Their Own Long-Term Academic Achievement , 2013, Psychological science.

[8]  K. Adolph,et al.  Bouts of steps: The organization of infant exploration. , 2016, Developmental psychobiology.

[9]  D. A. Caruso.  Dimensions of quality in infants' exploratory behavior: Relationships to problem-solving ability , 1993 .

[10]  M. Asada,et al.  Infant's action skill dynamically modulates parental action demonstration in the dyadic interaction. , 2015, Developmental science.

[11]  Linda B. Smith,et al.  Joint Attention without Gaze Following: Human Infants and Their Parents Coordinate Visual Attention to Objects through Eye-Hand Coordination , 2013, PloS one.

[12]  Karen E. Smith,et al.  Characteristics that help mothers maintain their infants' focus of attention , 1997 .

[13]  E J Gibson,et al.  Detection of the traversability of surfaces by crawling and walking infants. , 1987, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[14]  David I. Anderson,et al.  Travel Broadens the Mind. , 2000, Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies.

[15]  Dare A. Baldwin,et al.  Evidence for ‘motionese’: modifications in mothers’ infant-directed action , 2002 .

[16]  J. Belsky,et al.  Maternal stimulation and infant exploratory competence: cross-sectional, correlational, and experimental analyses. , 1980, Child development.

[17]  Klaus Libertus,et al.  Sit to Talk: Relation between Motor Skills and Language Development in Infancy , 2016, Front. Psychol..

[18]  Jesse M. Lingeman,et al.  How Do You Learn to Walk? Thousands of Steps and Dozens of Falls per Day , 2012, Psychological science.

[19]  Melissa W Clearfield,et al.  Learning by looking: Infants' social looking behavior across the transition from crawling to walking. , 2008, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[20]  J. Hudson,et al.  Informing Early Intervention: Preschool Predictors of Anxiety Disorders in Middle Childhood , 2012, PloS one.

[21]  M. Lobo,et al.  Enhanced handling and positioning in early infancy advances development throughout the first year. , 2012, Child development.

[22]  S. Køppe,et al.  Measuring spatial proximity in mother-infant interaction: a kinematic approach for an examination of the effects of maternal postpartum depression. , 2013, Infant behavior & development.

[23]  S. Calkins,et al.  Longitudinal Associations Between the Quality of Mother-Infant Interactions and Brain Development Across Infancy. , 2016, Child development.

[24]  E. Gibson.  Exploratory behavior in the development of perceiving, acting, and the acquiring of knowledge. , 1988 .

[25]  Karen E Adolph,et al.  Crawling and walking infants elicit different verbal responses from mothers. , 2014, Developmental science.

[26]  Theodore D. Wachs,et al.  Proximal Experience and Early Cognitive-Intellectual Development: The Physical Environment. , 1979 .

[27]  Karen E Adolph,et al.  Transition from crawling to walking and infants' actions with objects and people. , 2011, Child development.

[28]  E. J. Gibson.  C'est Moi. , 1978 .

[29]  M. Yogman.  Development of the Father-Infant Relationship , 1982 .

[30]  David I. Anderson,et al.  The role of locomotion in psychological development , 2013, Front. Psychol..

[31]  M. Bornstein,et al.  Modalities of infant-mother interaction in Japanese, Japanese American immigrant, and European American dyads. , 2012, Child development.

[32]  R. Feldman,et al.  Mothers’ and caregivers’ interactive and teaching behavior with toddlers , 2007 .

[33]  A. S. Mather,et al.  Environmental Resources , 2018 .

[34]  Howard F. Andrews,et al.  The origins of 12-month attachment: A microanalysis of 4-month mother–infant interaction , 2010, Attachment & human development.

[35]  C. Eckerman,et al.  The infant's free entry into a new environment. , 1969, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[36]  Mijna Hadders-Algra,et al.  Evaluation of Neuromotor Function in Infancy–A Systematic Review of Available Methods , 2008, Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBP.

[37]  A. Fogel,et al.  Chapter 15 Posture and Communication in Mother-Infant Interaction , 1993 .

[38]  M. Clearfield.  Learning to walk changes infants' social interactions. , 2011, Infant behavior & development.

[39]  M. Lamb,et al.  Infant Social Interactions With Multiple Caregivers , 2012 .