Abstract
Infants’ early object contact was enriched through the use of ‘sticky mittens’, enhancing exploratory skills in pre-reaching infants.
The study involved giving infants experience with prehension earlier than naturally acquired.
Infants wore mittens with sticky palms, allowing them to pick up toys during play sessions.
Comparison made between infants who had this experience and those who had not (control group).
Results showed increased object engagement and more sophisticated exploration strategies in the experimental group, suggesting that early simulated experiences boost object engagement.
Introduction
Main Question: How are developing organisms affected by their environment?
Traditional view: Critical/sensitive periods where the organism is especially responsive to environmental input.
Alternative view: The interdependence between the organism and environment influences development in complex ways (Bertenthal & Campos, 1987; Gottlieb, 1991a,b).
This study investigates the effect of enriching infants’ experiences as agents acting on objects.
Previous studies (Adolph, 1997, 2000; Bertenthal et al., 1984; Needham, 1999a) suggest experience influences motor skills and cognitive development.
Background
Influence of Self-produced Locomotion:**
Studies demonstrated that experience with self-produced locomotion affects infants’ responses to height (visual cliff studies).
Infants with self-produced locomotion showed wariness of depth, while those without did not demonstrate similar fear.
Suggests that specific motor experiences do not generalize directly across different postures or contexts (Adolph, 1997, 2000).
Gibson’s Claims:
Development of motor skills opens new exploratory opportunities with cognitive implications (Gibson, 1988).
Changes in object exploration skills correlate with cognitive developments such as visual-auditory correspondence (Eppler, 1995) and object boundary perception (Needham, 2000).
Development of Object Exploration:
Infants begin to reach for objects at approximately 5 months, but other exploratory behaviors are seen earlier.
Hand-mouth coordination observed even in fetuses (Nillsson & Hamberger, 1990).
Rochat (1989): 2-5-month infants show developmental changes in oral and visual exploration, leading to coordinated multimodal interactions by 4-5 months.
Factors Influencing Object Exploration
Gross motor skills development is necessary for prolonged object exploration (Halverson, 1931, 1933; von Hofsten, 1979).
Fine motor skills, such as fingering behavior, emerge around 4 months (Bushnell & Boudreau, 1993).
Increasing hand-eye and hand-mouth coordination fosters object exploration efficiency (Lockman & Ashmead, 1983; Bruner, 1969).
Infants’ motivation to explore objects heightens as reaching abilities develop (Fogel et al., 1992).
Experimental Design and Method
1. Participants
32 healthy full-term infants (15 girls, 17 boys) aged between 3 months to 3 months, 19 days (M = 3 months, 9 days).
Divided into experimental (M = 3 months, 11 days) and control conditions (M = 3 months, 7 days).
2. Apparatus
2.1 Home Session Equipment
Toys: Three sets were used:
Set 1: Wooden blocks, various sizes (2 cm x 6 cm, etc., about 11 pieces of velcro).
Set 2: Four shapes of plastic rings (6.5 cm wide).
Set 3: Plastic cubes (Duplos®) 4.5 cm per side, each with 2.5 cm dome.
Mittens: Made of soft fleece, containing Velcro strips for object pickup.
Daily Log: For parents to track the playtime with their infants.
2.2 Laboratory Session Set-up
Utilized the same toys used in home sessions for consistency.
Infants seated in a semireclined bouncy seat to explore objects and were monitored.
3. Procedure
3.1 Home Sessions (Experimental group only)
Parent-led sessions of 10 minutes each for 2 weeks.
Parents were instructed on procedure and required to log observations.
Engaging infants with different sets of toys while wearing sticky mittens.
3.2 Laboratory Sessions (Both Groups)
Composed of prehension trials and object exploration trials to examine object exploration skills.
Infants interacted first with familiar, then novel objects without mittens during exploration.
3.3 Coding
Duration measures (Looking time, Holding time, Mouthing time) recorded by trained coders.
Specific measures for both prehension and exploration trials using established procedures.
Results
1. Prehension Trials
Looking Percentage Scores:
Infants in the experimental group looked significantly longer (M = 68.3%) at objects compared to controls (M = 33.0%), p < .001.
Swatting Behavior:
Overall trend showed more swats in experimental (M = 6.9) versus control (M = 4.8), p = .15.
Intentional swats (with visual contact) significantly higher in experimental group (M = 5.7) versus controls (M = 2.5), p < .05.
2. Object Exploration Trials
Overall Exploration Percentage:
Experimental infants scored significantly higher (M = 47.6) than controls (M = 21.6), p < .05.
Mouthing Time:
Experimental infants demonstrated significantly greater mouthing (M = 23.2) compared to controls (M = 8.1), p < .05.
Visual Exploration Trend:
Higher scores approaching significance (M = 30.0 experimental vs. M = 14.5 control), p = .09.
Switching Behavior:
Significant increase in switching between modalities in experimental infants (M = 9.0) versus control (M = 2.0), p < .05.
Discussion
Experimental infants showed improved object exploration across all trials.
Increased engagement not exclusive to wearing mittens; likely generalization of skills from the enrichment experience.
Highlighted potential mechanisms: noticing movement consequences, additional practice in movements, or attention brought to objects during exploration sessions.
Future studies needed to clarify specific impacts and underlying mechanisms of sticky mittens experience on development.
Emphasizes the importance of early experiences in enhancing object exploration skills, suggesting a link among perceptual, cognitive, and motor abilities in infants.