An Epigenetic Perspective on the Development of Self-Produced Locomotion and Its Consequences Author(s): Bennett I. Bertenthal, Joseph J. Campos, Rosanne Kermoian Source: Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 3, No. 5 (Oct., 1994), pp. 140-145 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Association for Psychological Science Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20182292 Accessed: 24/11/2009 12:12 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. 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Association for Psychological Science and Blackwell Publishing are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Current Directions in Psychological Science. http://www.jstor.org 140 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 5,OCTOBER 1994 in our collected that infants young laboratory suggest expect a moving object to stop when a tall, thin box but not it encounters in terms of the patterns described in more the model and to compare time lines of the acquisition closely are that phenomena superficially a short, wide the box, even when in vol latter is considerably larger ume than the former. We suspect distinct but deeply related. Second, as was alluded to earlier, we are at tempting to teach infants initial con cepts and variables to uncover what events. Pilot data that infants are led by the dominant vertical axis of the tall box to per it as a wall-like, ceive immovable the and hence categorize object, event as an instance of a barrier phe in contrast, infants tend nomenon; to view the wide box as a movable and object, event as an phenomenon, the hence categorize of a collision resulting in incorrect instance predictions. The foregoing discussion high lighted several types of developmen that would be antici tal sequences an in view innate-mechanisms pated elab but not (without considerable in an innate-principles oration) view. To gain further insight into the nature and origins of these develop mental sequences, we have adopted a dual research strategy. First, we are examining of the development of additional infants' understanding gap, (e.g., phenomena physical and occlusion containment, phe to determine how easily nomena) can be captured these developments kinds many of observations, and how are required for that the pursuit of two strategies will eventually us to specify the nature of the observations, learning. We hope these allow learning mechanisms bring to the task of the physical that infants learning about world. was research Acknowledgments?This by grants from the Guggenheim supported the University of Illinois Cen Foundation, ter for Advanced Study, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human De Iwould like to (HD-21104). velopment thank Jerry Dejong, for his support and Noam Chom insight, and Susan Carey, John Fischer, sky, Judy DeLoache, Cindy Laura Kotovsky, Brian Ross, and Flavell, comments Bob Wyer, for many helpful and suggestions. Notes 1. J. Piaget, The Construction of Reality in the Child (Basic Books, New York, 1954). 2. E.S. Spelke, Preferential looking methods as tools for the study of cognition in infancy, inMea surement of Audition and Vision in the First Year of An Epigenetic Perspective on the Development of Self-Produced Locomotion Bennett One and I. Bertenthal, of the most 10. P. Rochat and A. Bullinger, Posture and functional action in infancy, in Francophone Per spectives on Structure and Process inMental Devel opment, A. Vyt, H. Bloch, and M. Bornstein, Eds. (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, in press). 11. K.D. Forbus, Qualitative process theory, Ar tificial Intelligence, 24, 85-168 (1984). 12. This example focused exclusively on the size of the cylinder, but what of the distance trav eled by the bug in each event? It seems likely that infants encode this information not in quantitative terms (e.g., "the bug traveled x as opposed to y distance"), but rather in qualitative terms, using as their point of reference the track itself (e.g., "the bug rolled to the middle of the track"), their own spatial position (e.g., "the bug stopped in front of me"), or the brightly decorated back wall of the apparatus (e.g., "the bug stopped in front of such-and-such section of the back wall"). epigenetic development process of involving self-produced the locomotion. Its Consequences Joseph J. Campos, striking charac human develop teristics of early ment is its consistency and stability. unifor Infants show considerable mity in the nature and timing of new to behaviors. A principal contributor this early uniformity Postnatal Life, G. Gottlieb and N. Krasnegor, Eds. (Ablex, Norwood, Nj, 1985). 3. R. Baillargeon, The object concept revisited: New directions in the investigation of infants' phys in Visual Perception and Cognition ical knowledge, in Infancy, CE. Granrud, Ed. (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1993). 4. E.S. Spelke, K. Breinlinger, J.Macomber, and K. Jacobson, Origins of knowledge, Psychological (1992). Review, 99, 605-632 5. R. Baillargeon, L. Kotovsky, and A. Need in in ham, The acquisition of physical knowledge in Cognition and fancy, in Causal Understandings Culture, G. Lewis, D. Premack, and D. Sperber, Eds. (Oxford University Press, Oxford, in press). 6. R. Baillargeon, A model of physical reasoning in infancy, inAdvances in Infancy Research, Vol. 9, C. Rovee-Collier and L. Lipsitt, Eds. (Ablex, Nor wood, NJ, in press). 7. R. Baillargeon, Physical reasoning in infants, in The Cognitive Neurosciences, M.S. Gazzaniga, Ed. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, in press). 8. E.S. Spelke, Physical knowledge in infancy: Reflections on Piaget's theory, in The Epig?nesis of Mind: Essays on Biology and Cognition, S. Carey and R. Gelman, Eds. (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1991). 9. A.M. Leslie, ToMM, ToBy, and Agency: Core architecture and domain specificity, in Causal Un derstandings in Cognition and Culture, G. Lewis, D. Premack, and D. Sperber, Eds. (Oxford University in press). Press, Oxford, is the develop and Rosanne Kermoian ment of species-typical behaviors, as such vocalization, locomotion, and These behaviors reaching. ensure a common set of experiences with far-reaching for consequences In this article, we development. review a specific of this example Published by Cambridge University Press EXTERNAL VERSUS SELF-PRODUCEDFORMS OF EXPERIENCE The importance of self-produced is often overlooked experiences by researchers, and, indeed, most stud ies investigating early development focus on the effects of stimulation from the environment. A paradig matic example is the study of infants' SCIENCE 141 CURRENTDIRECTIONS INPSYCHOLOGICAL responses to the social stimulation of their caretakers. The infant is viewed as a passive recipient of environ and responses mental stimulation, are typically assumed to be contin gent on the actions of the caretaker. is that infants view The alternative are active participants in learning and about self and environment, they provide through their own ac tions at least some of the experi ences necessary for further growth In contrast to ex and development. forms of stimula ternally produced are tion, these new experiences to all infants regardless of available their rearing environments. on focuses Our own research how the onset of crawling, the emer in gence of independent mobility, fluences development. subsequent In most emerges infants, crawling between 6 and 9 months of age, and in coincides with numerous changes sensorimotor including intelligence, new ways rela of coding spatial new about tions, concepts objects, new forms of social communication, a burgeoning of fear, and the further Is of other emotions.1 differentiation it possible that experiences provided are of crawling by the emergence some to of these related functionally other major changes developmental occurring at the same time? During research conducted the past decade, in our respective labs has shed some on answer to this provoca the light tive question. Fig. 1. Photograph of infant crawling on the visual cliff. FEAROF HEIGHTS During the third quarter of the 1st in infants show a dramatic year, crease in the intensity and probabil fear. ity with which they express These changes are so abrupt and so for survival that it is often adaptive fac assumed that neuromaturational tors are the principal cause of this shift. An especially developmental case is made for fear of compelling it is such a biologi because heights cally significant behavior. Although we do not dispute a contribution by neuromaturation, our research sug of fear of gests that the development more com is considerably heights plex, and is based on the interplay is Professor I. Bertenthal Bennett at the University of of Psychology is Pro Virginia. Joseph J, Campos and Director fessor of Psychology of the Institute of Human Develop ment at the University of California at Berkeley. Rosanne Kermoian is at Assistant Research Psychologist at the University of California Address correspondence Berkeley. to Bennett I. Bertenthal, Depart ment of Psychology, Gilmer Hall, of Virginia, Charlottes University VA 22903-2477. ville, neuromaturation between factors, comotor especially and other lo self-produced experience. Wariness of heights is often stud ied using a "visual cliff." Figure 1 shows a picture of this apparatus, consists of a large sheet of glass (8x4 ft) suspended almost 4 ft above the floor. A narrow board is placed across the middle, dividing the sheet into two sides. On one side (referred to as the shallow side), a which textured checkerboard Copyright ? 1994 American pattern Psychological is Society placed directly under the glass, so that it appears as a rigid and support able surface. On the other side (re ferred to as the deep side), the tex tured checkerboard is placed 4 ft the glass, so that this side ap pears as a cliff, or as an apparent Inmost studies, infants are drop-off. on the centerboard and en placed cross to to the mother, couraged below across stands alternately the or shallow sides of the cliff. deep Our early observations testing in fants on the visual cliff revealed that, who of other contrary to the predictions not did avoid the researchers, they side the (i.e., apparent drop deep the onset off) immediately following of crawling. Instead, itwas generally 6 to 8 weeks the onset of following crawling that avoidance was first ob served. This was observation subse in a quently replicated and extended series of experiments.2 In one study, crawling and pre infants were tested on the crawling visual cliff at the same age (7.3 Infants were held 3 ft months). above the glass surface of the cliff by an experimenter, and slowly low ered onto the surface. heart rate sured and compared with descent, their During was this mea their heart 142 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 5, OCTOBER 1994 Ingenrate during a baseline period. in states eral, heart rate decelerates and of orienting and attentiveness, in states of defensiveness accelerates or fearfulness.3 infants Precrawling showed I was one inwhich locomotor experi ence was manipulated in a quasi manner. A group of experimental infants were given 40 hr precrawling in their of locomotor experience no placed some period of time each day. These enable infants to locomote walkers in a small seat them by supporting changes either side of the visual cliff (see Fig. infants 2). By contrast, crawling showed significant cardiac accelera tion when lowered onto the deep no and cardiac change when side, lowered onto the shallow side. on frame walker experi ing infants without ence was also tested on the visual means crawl definitive. Logically, could covary with ing experience any number of other developmental variables that might contribute to the of fear of heights. The development firm sup cliff. The results provided that experi port for the conclusion ences with locomo self-produced to the development tion contribute the of fear of heights. Specifically, infants with group of precrawling walker experience showed heart rate research of subsequent challenge was to show that the relation be tween crawling experience and vi was causal sual-cliff performance acceleration when lowered onto the side of the visual cliff; the age deep matched control group showed only a slight deceleratory shift. Another study confirmed that the To do correlative. and not merely a series of converging so entailed experiment convincing to a is attached that wheels. Infants with walker experi ence were tested with the descent on An age the visual cliff. paradigm matched control group of precrawl these results suggested Although affected that crawling experience were fear of heights, by no they experiments. The most who by their caregivers, them in infant walkers for homes cardiac significant as they were lowered onto relation between locomotor experi ence and fear of heights was not In this experiment, task-specific. wariness of heights was tested by en couraging the deep infants to locomote and cliff. To assess shallow sides across of the the ef independently fects of age of onset of crawling and infants who experience, crawling to or at crawl 8 months 6, 7, began of age were tested after 11 or 41 days of locomotor experience. The an of infant probability crossing the as as well the (or cliff, latency time) to begin elapsed crossing, were related to crawl significantly but not to the age of ing experience, onset of crawling (see Fig. 3). together, these results offer evidence that crawling compelling contributes experience significantly to the development of fear of Taken for this re heights. The explanation lation is still not completely under we but do know that stood, falling alone are not sufficient experiences to account for this developmental shift on the visual cliff. A more plau sible interpretation that active control is for this shift of locomotion, unlike passive locomotion, demands continuous updating of one's orien tation relative to the spatial layout. This information is provided through multimodal such as visual sources, CL SI LU (D z < and < ce I rr < LU X -i i i i #? loe shallow -B? - ? preloc deep preloc shallow 2 2.5 3.5 SECONDSOF DESCENT rate heart Data are in 7.3-month-old changes plotted to show infants as a function heart second-by-second rate of beats per minute (BPM). Loc = crawling infants; preloc Published = locomotor changes descent onto deep and shallow sides of the visual cliff. Heart rate change using angular ac fants are placed on the deep side of the visual cliff, because angular ac on the retina is scaled to celeration i r 1.5 0.5 experience. of between visual expected mapping and vestibular is vio information in lated. This violation occurs when loe deep O? 2. Mean coding celeration. With locomotor experi in angular accelera ence, changes tion detected by the visual system are mapped onto analogous changes detected system. by the vestibular ensues when Fear or avoidance the 3 H o Fig. vestibular precrawling by Cambridge during is calculated University infants. Press the distance of the nearest visible no such scaling oc texture, whereas curs for the vestibular system.4 As a consequence, visual and vestibular of self-motion become specification an aver and produce discrepant, response sive, vertiginous by infants, CURRENTDIRECTIONS INPSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 143 location even after they the toy hidden somewhere This situation changes around successful 100 observe I LU O z LU ?C LU -#? 41 days loe. exp. else. -0? 11 days loe. exp. 8 to 9 months of age, when infants to correct show search for a begin displaced object. The temporal cor 80 i between this develop respondence mental shift in search behavior and the onset of crawling led a number to suggest a causal of investigators connection between crawling expe rience and the development of new 60 1 ? 5 40 i IZ < LU 2 search skills. Two this 20 7 6.5 7.5 8 9 8.5 9.5 recent experiments support relation. The first predicted study 10 tested in infants, precrawling crawling and infants with fants, precrawling = 8.5 walker experience (mean age on a series of hiding tasks months) AGE AT TESTING (MONTHS) corresponding permanence 100 - 41 LU i?. ?o LU ?LU 60 H Z Q O -0? days loe. exp. 11 days loe. exp. 20 7.5 8.5 9.5 Fig. 3. Results from a visual-cliff experiment testing infantswho began to crawl at 6, 7, or 8 months of age. The top panel shows the mean latency differences between moving onto the deep and shallow sides of the visual cliff as a function of both locomotor (loc. experience exp.) and age at testing. The bottom shows panel the percentage infants not crossing the deep side of the cliff as a function of locomotor experience of and at testing. to adults not unlike what happens a down from very high looking when skyscraper.5 It is fairly well estab ing experience. infants are rarely lished that young in searching for a hidden successful a displacement of object following themselves SPATIALSEARCH The object Hands-and hiding location was present. The second study involved a dif ferent task, but the results were sim AGE AT TESTING (MONTHS) another scale.6 infants. Infants with the crawling most crawling experience (9 weeks) passed tasks that involved searching for objects hidden in a new, spatially discriminable pre location, whereas were not able to infants crawling pass even a task involving a single hiding location if a second (unused) 6.5 age to Piaget's and walker-assisted knees-crawling infants passed more precrawling items on this scale than did pre 40 LU ?_ hands-and-knees is for hidden objects skill that is linked to crawl search or the object. the best known Perhaps of this def example icit is the A-not-B error shown by infants on Piaget's object-perma nence test. In this test, infants con in a previously to search tinue Copyright ? 1994 American Psychological Society ilar.7 Hands-and-knees-crawling, in and precrawling belly-crawling, fants (mean age = 7.5 months) were a toy was tested on trials in which hidden in one of two differently col ored containers placed in front of the infant. After the hiding was com pleted, either the infant or the table was rotated 180? so that the correct location of the hid left-versus-right den toy was reversed. The results re vealed that crawling experience was related to search per systematically formance when the infant was but not when the table was moved, rotated (see Table 1). When the in fant was hands-and-knees rotated, infants searched the correct crawling container more often than predicted 144 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 5, OCTOBER 1994 sponds to a diagonal coupling of the limbs, inwhich diagonally opposite limbs, such as the right arm and left and 180? leg, move simultaneously, Table 1. Number of infants showing correct and incorrect search for hidden toy on first trial Search Correct Infant group Infant-displacement out of phase with the other pair of limbs. The development of this diag onal pattern is an emergent process Incorrect condition fueled by the initial experience of on hands and knees. Limb moving movements to a diag corresponding are rarely observed onal pattern the infant de prior to the time when sufficient velops strength to support the torso off the ground. By contrast, a diagonal pattern is observed a little Precrawling 5 15 Belly crawling 3 7 Hands-and-knees crawling 13 5 Table-displacement condition Precrawling 11 9 Belly crawling 3 7 Hands-and-knees crawling 10 8 infants precrawling by chance, container the incorrect searched more often than predicted by infants and chance, belly-crawling showed a mixed response. How does crawling to infants' contribute experience searches for to onset Prior the of hidden objects? one lo infants remain in crawling, cation for extended periods of time. in They are thus fairly successful coding the location of an object with a body-centered frame of reference. onset in the of crawling, Following fants are moving much more often, mates the experience of infants fol onset the of Infants lowing crawling. learn from this experience that they must update their spatial code for the location of an object following a the self-displacement. Apparently, new search response that emerges with crawling experience does not immediately in which this would improve performance. also response THEORGANIZATIONOF CRAWLINGBEHAVIOR inefficient for them and it becomes to code the location of an object us frame of refer ing a body-centered ence. to other generalize conditions A theme high complementary the research is lighted by preceding that all forms of locomotor experi ence are not equivalent, and that the During the initial stages of this infants are likely to show transition, in perfor much greater variability we is which what mance, exactly in with observed belly-crawling it is the fants. From our perspective, in performance greater variability this time that that occurs during drives the system to a new level of to belly crawling is espe crawling important. This developmen cially in com tal transition shares much mon with the other shifts reviewed. The newly emergent organization. search strategy no longer relies on a frame of reference, body-centered but instead uses landmarks or some other strategy, such as visual track of hands Indeed, the development one offers and-knees of the crawling clearest examples of how the selec tion of new behaviors by infants rep resents an emergent process based updating the lo ing, for continually an cation of object. It is noteworthy that search per formance was related to locomotor on the confluence of multiple organ ismic and environmental factors. In a recently completed study, we in the infant experience only This condition, rotation condition. the table-rotation with compared more condition, approxi closely transition from hands-and-knees assessed the develop longitudinally ment of crawling in six infants.8 Ki nematic analyses of interlimb coor dination revealed that the most corre movement stable pattern of Published by Cambridge University Press more than 50% of the time just 1 to 2 weeks after the torso is supported off the ground (see Fig. 4). Our interpretation for this finding is that hands-and-knees that the torso quires re crawling remain sup ported and balanced during forward are these requirements progression; irrelevant during the preceding stage of belly and creeping. crawling Once infants develop sufficient in their arms and legs to strength support the torso, they begin to ex interlimb patterns plore the various available for movement, such as one a at limb time or moving only moving both limbs on the same side of the body at the same time. Fol lowing a relatively brief opportunity to explore the various interlimb pat terns to available verge on because infants them, con the same diagonal pattern it provides effi greater Fig. 4. Mean percentage of time that limbs are diagonally coupled during Data crawling. prior (-2) to are the plotted onset from of 2 weeks hands-and knees crawling through 6 weeks follow ing (+ 6) the onset of hands-and-knees crawling. CURRENTDIRECTIONS INPSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 145 ciency and stability alternatives. Two than any of the should be points empha sized about this developmental shift. to the transition hands-and First, knees crawling begins with a period success in producing during which is quite forward prone progression This experience informs variable. interlimb the infant that the previous no is organization longer adequate the in for the new task. Gradually, fant converges on a new form of in the terlimb patterning representing most dynamically stable organiza tion given the task at hand. Second, are these developmental changes nor obligatory, the natural out neither prescriptive but rather represent come of a system governed by trying to achieve the most dynamically ef It is noteworthy that this sequence of increased variabil ity followed by greater stability and is a common greater generalizability theme that cuts across many differ ficient solution. ent developmental theories.9 More of development. processes that over, it confirms our contention some of the relevant factors contrib uting to the uniformity of early be are indeed ex havioral development An for important goal is to assess the gen of our finding to deter eralizability mine whether other forms of self such as experiences, generated periential. future research those produced by sitting or reach to the develop ing, also contribute mental process. Second, our findings underscore the limitations invoked by assuming a linear model of development. Such a model makes the simplistic con that assumption performance tinues to improve at a constant rate as experience increases. Logically, this prediction is problematic be cause most behaviors reach an as level of performance and ymptotic then show no further improvement. the results from many Moreover, are not consistent with the studies that change occurs at a expectation rate. For instance, the de of a diagonal gait pattern the onset of hands-and following to an knees crawling corresponds constant velopment GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT DEVELOPMENT At a specific level, the findings from this research program provide that locomotor evidence compelling is related to experience functionally the development of a number of new forms. At a more general these level, findings lend support to three important generalizations about the developmental process. First and foremost, our research shows that some of the program most significant early experiences are those produced by the infant's own actions. This finding represents a radical departure from the tradi behavioral tional actions perspective as merely of viewing products these and not abrupt nonlinear a monotonically change rather than func increasing is that the ap experience such as plication of linear models, linear regression, to the study of the effects of experience sometimes or incorrect produces misleading tion. Our results.10 Finally, this research underscores importance of conceptualizing from a systems per development the is spective. Developmental change a cause. to attributable rarely single For example, locomo self-produced tor experience to search contributes but so do im objects, trunk control, ability to se and increased vi actions, for hidden proved quence Copyright ? 1994 American Psychological Society suai attentiveness.6 It is essential that conceptualize early de as to responsive velopment multiple factors that interrelate and subsume investigators coactions. organism-environment From this perspective, behavioral re is multidetermined, development lational, and emergent. research Acknowledgments?The in this review scribed National Institutes de was of supported by Health Grants HD16195 and HD23144, and also by a grant from MacArthur nine Pinto the John D. Foundation. T. and Catherine We thank Jean for her helpful comments. Notes 1. A comprehensive review of these develop mental changes is presented in B.I. Bertenthal, J.J. locomo Campos, and K.C. Barrett, Self-produced tion: An organizer of emotional, cognitive, and so in infancy, in Continuities cial development and in Development, Discontinuities R.N. Emde and R.J. Harmon, Eds. (Plenum, New York, 1984). 2. J.J. Campos, B.I. Bertenthal, and R. Ker and emotional develop moian, Early experience ment: The emergence of wariness of heights, Psy (1992). chological Science, 3, 61-64 3. J.J. Campos, Heart rate: A sensitive tool for the study of emotional development, in Develop mental Psychobiology: The Significance of Infancy, L.P. Lipsitt, Ed. (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1976); L.A. Sroufe and E.Waters, Heart rate as a convergent measure in clinical and developmental research, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 23, 3-27 (1977). 4. T. Brandt, W. Bles, F. Arnold, and T.S. Kapteyn, Height vertigo and human posture, Ad vances in Oto-Rhino-Otolaryngology, 89, 88-92 (1979). 5. For more details, see B.I. Bertenthal and J.J. Campos, A systems approach to the organizing ef fects of self-produced locomotion during infancy, in in Infancy Research, Vol. 6, C. Rovee Advances Collier and L. Lipsitt, Eds. (Ablex, Norwood, NJ, 1990). 6. R. Kermoian and J.J.Campos, Locomotor ex perience: A facilitator of spatial cognitive develop ment, Child Development, 59, 908-917 (1988). 7. D.L. Bai and B.I. Bertenthal, Locomotor sta tus and the development of spatial search skills, Child Development, (1992). 63, 215-226 8. R.L. Freedland and B.I. Bertenthal, Develop in interlimb coordination: Transi mental changes tion to hands-and-knees crawling, Psychological (1994). Science, 5, 26-32 9. G. Edelman, Neural Darwinism (Basic Books, New York, 1987); E. Thelen, Evolving and of leg co dissolving synergies in the development in Perspectives on the Coordination of ordination, S. Wallace, Ed. (Elsevier, Amsterdam, Movement, 1989). 10. B.I. Bertenthal and J.J.Campos, A reexam inaron of fear and its determinants on the visual 413-417 cliff, Psychophysiology,21, (1984).
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