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ERIC Number: EJ1355223
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Apr
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2325-3193
EISSN: EISSN-2325-3215
Quantifying Infant Exploratory Learning
Kim, Jeong Ah; Park, Sungwoo; Fetters, Linda; Eckel, Sandrah P.; Kubo, Masayoshi; Sargent, Barbara
Journal of Motor Learning and Development, v10 n1 p167-183 Apr 2022
Exploration is considered essential to infant learning, but few studies have quantified infants' task exploration. The purpose of this study was to quantify how infants explored task space with their feet while learning to activate a kick-activated mobile. Data were analyzed from fifteen 4-month-old infants who participated in a 10-min mobile task on 2-3 consecutive days. Infants learned that their vertical leg movements above a systematically increased threshold height activated the mobile. Five kinematic variables were analyzed: (a) exploration space volume, (b) exploration path length, (c) duration of time in the region of interest around the threshold that activated the mobile, (d) task-specific vertical variance of kicks, and (e) non-task-specific horizontal variance of kicks. The infants increased their general spatial exploration, volume, and path, and the infants adapted their exploration by maintaining their feet within the region of interest, although the task-specific region increased in height as the threshold increased. The infants used task-specific strategies quantified by the increased variance of kicks in the vertical direction and no change in the horizontal variance of kicks. Quantifying infants' task exploration may provide critical insights into how learning emerges in infancy and enable researchers to more systematically describe, interpret, and support learning.
Human Kinetics, Inc. 1607 North Market Street, Champaign, IL 61820. Tel: 800-474-4457; Fax: 217-351-1549; e-mail: info@hkusa.com; Web site: https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jmld/jmld-overview.xml
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) (NIH), Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (DHHS/NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: UL1TR001855; UL1TR000130; K12HD055929