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A new twist on old ideas: how sitting reorients crawlers

A new twist on old ideas: how sitting reorients crawlers Traditionally, crawling and sitting are considered distinct motor behaviors with different postures and functions. Ten‐ to 12‐month‐old infants were observed in the laboratory or in their homes while being coaxed to crawl continuously over long, straight walkways (Study 1; N = 20) and during spontaneous crawling during free play (Study 2; N = 20). In every context, infants stopped crawling to sit 3–6 times per minute. Transitions from crawling to sitting frequently turned infants' bodies away from the direction of heading; subsequent transitions back to crawling were offset by as much as 180° from the original direction of heading. Apparently, body reorientations result from the biomechanics of transitioning between crawling and sitting. Findings indicate that sustained, linear crawling is likely an epiphenomenon of how gait is studied in standard paradigms. Postural transitions between crawling and sitting are ubiquitous and can represent a functional unit of action. These transitions and the accompanying body reorientations likely have cascading effects for infants' exploration, visual perception, and spatial cognition. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Developmental Science Wiley

A new twist on old ideas: how sitting reorients crawlers

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References (61)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
ISSN
1363-755X
eISSN
1467-7687
DOI
10.1111/desc.12205
pmid
25041056
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Traditionally, crawling and sitting are considered distinct motor behaviors with different postures and functions. Ten‐ to 12‐month‐old infants were observed in the laboratory or in their homes while being coaxed to crawl continuously over long, straight walkways (Study 1; N = 20) and during spontaneous crawling during free play (Study 2; N = 20). In every context, infants stopped crawling to sit 3–6 times per minute. Transitions from crawling to sitting frequently turned infants' bodies away from the direction of heading; subsequent transitions back to crawling were offset by as much as 180° from the original direction of heading. Apparently, body reorientations result from the biomechanics of transitioning between crawling and sitting. Findings indicate that sustained, linear crawling is likely an epiphenomenon of how gait is studied in standard paradigms. Postural transitions between crawling and sitting are ubiquitous and can represent a functional unit of action. These transitions and the accompanying body reorientations likely have cascading effects for infants' exploration, visual perception, and spatial cognition.

Journal

Developmental Science – Wiley

Published: Mar 1, 2015

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