LECTURE EXTENSION Upright Locomotion and Affective Reorganization in the Infant-Mother Dyad (p. 189)
Recent investigation has examined the relationship between infants' motor development and various aspects of their social and emotional capacities. For instance, Biringen, et al. (1995) studied the role of upright locomotion in the development of infant-caregiver interactions. The study consisted of naturalistic home observations in which both positive and conflictual aspects of the mother-infant dyad were recorded. The sample was divided into two groups based on the timing of the transition to walking: early walkers and prewalkers. Each early walker was matched by age with another infant who had not yet begun to walk (a prewalker). The results demonstrated that early walkers exhibited more "testing of wills" than prewalkers, and that mothers of prewalkers were more likely to praise their infants than mothers of early walkers. In addition, evidence indicated that there were fewer positive dyadic interactions in the early walker group before these infants began to walk, suggesting that relationship functioning may have played a role in the timing of this motor transition. In contrast to early walkers and their mothers, prewalker dyads exhibited more stable emotional patterns across the shift to upright locomotion. In summary, it appears that early and late walkers may have differential affective experiences both prior to and during the transition to walking. Biringen, Z., Emde, R. N., Campos, J. J., & Appelbaum, M. I. (1995). Affective reorganization in the infant, the mother, and the dyad: The role of upright locomotion and its timing. Child Development, 66, 499-514. LEARNING ACTIVITY Evaluating Toys Designed for Infants and Toddlers (p. 194)
Ask students to evaluate several toys designed for infants and toddlers with respect to the perceptual capacities needed to respond appropriately to the toys, the motor skills required to play with the toys, and the abilities that the toys are designed to promote. Tell students to pay attention to the recommended ages provided for each toy. For example, students might observe that infants like to watch wind-up toys that move and make noise, but they have not yet developed the ability to turn the crank. Or they might notice how some mobiles are made with large black and white patterns so as to capture the interest of newborns who prefer to look at patterns with high contrast compared to those with fine detail.
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