How babies use their hands to learn about objects: Exploration, reach‐to‐grasp, manipulation, and tool use

Abstract

Object play is essential for infant learning, and infants spend most of their day with objects. Young infants learn about objects and their properties through multimodal exploration facilitated by caregivers. They figure out how to transport their hands to where objects are, and how to grasp objects in increasingly complex ways. Building on earlier experiences, they learn how to use their hands collaboratively to act on objects, and how to use objects to act on other objects in instrumental ways. These changes in how infants use their hands occur during the most rapid period of motor development and may have important downstream implications for other domains. Recent research findings have established the importance of effective fine motor skills for later academic skills, yet our understanding of the factors that influence the early development of hand skills is sparse at best. Latest research on reaching, grasping, object manipulation, hands collaboration, and tool use is reviewed and connections among these developments are explained from the perspective of developmental cascades.This article is categorized under: Psychology > Motor Skill and Performance Psychology > Development and Aging

Systematic Review: The Development of Behavioral Laterality Across the First Year of Life in Nonhuman Primates

“…In human infants, bimanual tasks are the preferred measure once the child can perform this type of manual skill [73]. Finally, reaching is not used to measure hand preference in human adults; rather, questionnaires on how the hands are used to perform specific types of object manipulation are the norm.…”