Infant Sitting and Multi-Directional Reaching Skill

J Mot Behav. 2023 Sep 26:1-10. doi: 10.1080/00222895.2023.2262428. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTWe tested twenty-one 6- to 10-month-old infants with a wide range of sitting experience in forward and rightward reaching during unsupported sitting on the floor. Sessions were video-recorded for further behavioral and machine learning-based kinematic analyses. All infants, including novice sitters, successfully touched and grasped toys in both directions. Infant falls, hand support, and base of support changes were rare. Infants with more sitting experience showed better upright posture than novice sitters. However, we found no differences in trunk displacement or reaching kinematics between directions or across sitting experience. Thus, multi-directional reaching is functional in both novice and experienced infant sitters. We suggest that trunk and arm stability in sagittal and frontal planes is integral to learning to sit.PMID:37751896 | DOI:10.1080/00222895.2023.2262428
Source: Journal of Motor Behavior - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research