NEWLY SITTING INFANTS RECRUIT COMPENSATORY POSTURAL
STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE INHIBITION
Sarah E.
1The
1,2
Berger ,
College of Staten Island, CUNY;
2The
•
•
•
Attentional resources are required to maintain
postural control
During new motor skill acquisition, infants have
fewer resources available to devote to
cognitive processing
How do infants cope with dual challenges of
threats to balance and problem-solving?
Aim: Examine individual differences in strategy
choice and discovery by documenting balance
control strategies as new sitters perform a test
of inhibition
University
profile 2 (40%):
no perseveration, more
compensatory strategies o
nfoam than firm, 3/4 stage
2
• 10 7-month-old, pre-crawling, stage 2 (n=4) or
3 (n=6) sitters as categorized using Harbourne &
Stergiou (2003) criteria (propping, falling)
Modified A-not-B task:
• unsupported sitting on
foam or firm surface
• reach for toys through
openings in vertical
board
• 5 trials at one opening
(A) followed by 1 trial at
other opening (B).
• spontaneous trial-by-trial balance control
strategies (propping, high guard, light touch)
• perseverative behaviors (e.g., reaches, looks,
vacillations)
Graduate School and University Center, CUNY;
3Duquesne
profile 1 (30%): “classi
c”perseverative reach
on Foam B, all stage 3
METHOD
DATA CODING
and Regina
3
Harbourne
REACHING PROFILES (REPRESENTATIVE INDIVIDUALS)
BACKGROUND & AIM
•
Julie
2
Sonsini ,
profile 3 (30%): perseveration to so
meextent on Firm B, 2/3 stage 3
CONCLUSIONS
•
Subtle postural control movements provide the cognitive benefit of relieving attentional load
to facilitate inhibition.
• Microgenetically coding infants’ behavior revealed problem-solving unfolding in real time and
indicated the co-emergence of motor and cognitive strategies.