The emergence of functional play in infants: Evidence for a major cognitive transition

Zelazo, Philip R.; Kearsley, Richard B.

doi:10.1016/0193-3973(80)90002-7

Cited by 53 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The 24-montholds in our high objective PNMS group averaged even less time in functional play (42%), suggesting a delay of greater than 9 months that is attributable to prenatal stress. Moreover, the children in our high objective PNMS group performed an average of 10 different functional acts during the 15-min play session, which is comparable to the number displayed by typical children at 15% months of age (i.e., 10.4 acts), that is, 8% months younger (Zelazo & Kearsley, 1980). These effects of objective PNMS remained even after controlling for the effects of the covariates, including subjective PNMS levels.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Functional Play at 2 Years of Age: Effects of Prenatal Maternal Stress

Laplante

Zelazo

Brunei

et al. 2007

Infancy

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Toddler toy play evolves in a predictable manner and provides a valid, nonverbal measure of cognitive function unbiased by social behaviors. Research on prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) indicates that exposure to stress in utero results in developmental deficits. We hypothesized that children exposed to high objective PNMS from a natural disaster early in pregnancy would exhibit higher rates of stereotypical play and lower rates of mature functional play than their low-stress counterparts would. We examined the functional play abilities of 52 2-year-olds exposed to low or high objective PNMS from a natural disaster within a nonstructured play session. Toddlers exposed to high objective PNMS, subjective PNMS, or both exhibited less functional and more stereotypical toy play, with less diversity, compared to toddlers exposed to low PNMS. PNMS appears to affect functional play development in toddlers negatively. These results replicate delays in language and intellectual functioning observed in these toddlers using the Bayley Scales.The purpose of this study was to investigate whether in utero exposure to varying levels of prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) influences the development of play abilities in young children. Although research with animals suggests that PNMS has a negative effect on cognitive development (Schneider, 1992), research with humans is hampered by ethical constraints. Relying on a natural disaster to provide the ranSend correspondence to Suzanne King,

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Functional Play at 2 Years of Age: Effects of Prenatal Maternal Stress

Laplante

Zelazo

Brunei

et al. 2007

Infancy

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“…Object mouthing emerges early in infancy and increases between 15 and 20 weeks as reaching becomes productive (Rochat, 1989;Spencer, Vereijken, Diedrich, & Thelen, 2000). Mouthing peaks between 6 and 9 months and declines between 9.5 and 15.5 months, replaced by other forms of object exploration and manipulation (Belsky & Most, 1981;McCall, 1974;Palmer, 1989;Rochat, 1989;Ruff, 1984;Ruff et al, 1992;Whyte et al, 1994;Zelazo & Kearsley, 1980).…”

Section: Mouthing Peak and Consonant Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Mouthing on Infant Vocalization

Fagan

Iverson²

2007

Infancy

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Although vocalization and mouthing are behaviors frequently performed by infants, little is known about the characteristics of vocalizations that occur with objects, hands, or fingers in infants' mouths. The purpose of this research was to investigate characteristics of vocalizations associated with mouthing in 6-to 9-month-old infants during play with a primary caregiver. Results suggest that mouthing may influence the phonetic characteristics of vocalizations by introducing vocal tract closure and variation in consonant production.Mouthing, defined as contact of an object with the mouth, lips, or tongue (Rochat, 1989;Ruff, Saltarelli, Capozzoli, & Dubiner, 1992), is a common behavior during infancy (Belsky & Most, 1981;Fenson, Kagan, Kearsley, & Zelazo, 1976;Kopp, 1976). In a study of 7.5− to 21-month-old infants (Belsky & Most, 1981), all 40 infants displayed mouthing behavior during play with toys between 7.5 and 13.5 months. In addition to its prominence across infants, mouthing is a regularly occurring behavior both in terms of number of occurrences and duration of episodes (Kopp, 1976;Ruff, 1984;Whyte, McDonald, Baillargeon, & Newell, 1994).Studies of mouthing have not typically examined vocalizations associated with episodes of mouthing. Moreover, studies of mouthing often focus on the mouthing of objects, less frequently investigating contact of the hands and fingers with infants' mouths. Elbers (1982), however, noted that between ages 6 and 12 months her son vocalized with the back of one hand against his mouth and while holding his fingers in his mouth. She interpreted both activities as variants in bringing about vocal tract closure and constriction. In an additional study of 4 infants between 6 and 11 months, Ejiri and Masataka (2001) documented both the frequent occurrence of mouthing and co-occurrences of mouthing and vocalization; however, they did not describe the characteristics of co-occurring vocalizations. Descriptions of vocalizations that co-occur with mouthing may be important for three reasons: Mouthing is an exploratory behavior that may extend to encompass exploration of co-occurring vocalizations; the peak period of mouthing behavior in infancy coincides with and may contribute to advances in consonant production; and mouthing, which appears to contribute to the development of multimodal object perception, may also contribute to the development of multimodal speech perception. Mouthing and ExplorationStudies documenting the exploratory nature of object-related mouthing have consistently shown that infants use mouthing as a means to explore object characteristics and discover what they afford for action (Fenson et al., 1976;Rochat, 1989;Ruff et al., 1992). Moreover, infants vary their approach to exploration to maximize the information they obtain (e.g., scratching objects to obtain information about their affordance for noise; Rochat, 1989) and exploit affordances differentially (e.g., fingering textured objects and mouthing patterned objects). The exploratory nature of mouth...

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“…In one study, Zelazo and Kearsley (1981) observed that children with developmental delays (due to unknown causes) who did not have an opportunity for practice on a task functioned below their optimal level. Information-processing ability, measured by the use of sequences of visual and auditory stimuli (Zelazo, , 1982a, was at a more sophisticated level than children's use of objects.…”

Section: Object Usementioning

confidence: 96%

“…The first is a practical one: If children with developmental delays can be shown to have passed through the cognitive transition that occurs at about a year, the cause of their delays can then be identified as experiential in origin. Zelazo and Kearsley (1981) conducted an experimental longitudinal investigation to test this notion. In one portion of the study, a sample of 22-month-old children, who had mean delays of about 8 months as measured on the mental portion of the Bayley Scales, were sorted into intact and impaired informationprocessing groups using the light sequence and other stimuli.…”

Section: Implications For Theory and Practicementioning

confidence: 98%

The dawn of active thought

Zelazo

Leonard

1983

New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development

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The qualitative changes in behavior that occur between about 8 and 12 montk e x h d LO virtually all area of development and imply that the infant unhgoes a mjor cognitive metamorphosis at 1 year ?f age.The Dawn $Active Thought PhiZip R. ZeZazo Elizabeth L. LeonardDespite the virtually unparalleled changes that occur toward the end of the first year of life, relatively little research has focused on the identification of the basis for these developmental changes. As a child nears his first birthday, his first words appear and he takes his first steps, begins to use objects as adults do, and reacts with distress and protest when left with a stranger in an unfamiliar place. At 12 months of age, children also begin to react to information processing tasks in ways that imply a cognitive reorganization that may form the basis for these changes (Zelazo, , 1982b. The behavioral changes range from gross and fine motor to linguistic, social, and cognitive activities. These remarkably consistent changes across domains occurring in a relatively short time span define one of the clearest qualitative transitions in development. Indeed, the change in behavior from 8 to 12 months of age is so extensive that is seems to show a cognitive metamorphosis. What underlies this change from a nonverbal, relatively fearless, crawling infant that mouths, Much of the research presented in this article and the time required to prepare it was supported by grants from the Oftice of Special Education (X6007603979) to Philip Zelazo and Richard Kearsley and The Carnegie Corporation of New York to Philip Zelazo. We wish to thank Marguerite Randolph for her valuable assistance with this research and Jerome Kagan for focusing attention on the cognitive changes occumng toward the end of the first year, Of course, we accept full responsibility for the views expressed here. 37

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The emergence of functional play in infants: Evidence for a major cognitive transition

Cited by 53 publications

References 9 publications

Functional Play at 2 Years of Age: Effects of Prenatal Maternal Stress

Functional Play at 2 Years of Age: Effects of Prenatal Maternal Stress

The Influence of Mouthing on Infant Vocalization

The dawn of active thought

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