Object retrieval and interlimb coordination in the first year of life : (Vol. 12,2).
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of task exposure and box transparency on learning a task that required an infant to retrieve a toy from a closed box. By combining a longitudinal and cross-sectional design, we were able to tease out the effects of age versus experience. In order to e...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1999
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Static URL is not available. In OregonPDF, search for the Author using the All tab. Static URL is not available. In OregonPDF, search for the Author using the All tab |
| Summary: | This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of task exposure and box transparency on learning a task that required an infant to retrieve a toy from a closed box. By combining a longitudinal and cross-sectional design, we were able to tease out the effects of age versus experience. In order to explore the role of vision on solving an object retrieval task, infants in both groups were assigned randomly into one of two conditions: opaque box versus transparent box. Twelve infants were followed longitudinally once a week starting at 6 1/2 months of age. Four cross-sectional groups were tested only once to assess infants' level of skill without prior task exposure. The ages of the cross-sectional groups were determined as the age at which a stable, bimanual complementary strategy with good timing emerged in their respective longitudinal groups. A mature strategy was defined as: using one or two hands to open the lid, holding the lid steadily with one hand while the opposite hand retrieved the toy from inside the box. These results strongly suggested the following: 1) Infants benefited from early task exposure because infants in the longitudinal groups outperformed age-matched infants in the cross-sectional groups. 2) Within the two longitudinal groups, improvement on the object retrieval task seemed to take place at 8-months-old for the transparent and 9-months-old for the opaque box group. 3) Vision of the toy through the lid facilitated the development of efficient solutions for the object retrieval task. Infants in the transparent box condition developed efficient solutions earlier than the infants in the opaque box condition. 4) Maturation alone cannot account for the development of bimanual coordination as assessed using an object retrieval task. |
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| Item Description: | [Advisor:] Daniela Corbetta. |
| Physical Description: | 60 pp. : 1 microfiche |
