Infant Toddler Learning & Development Foundations

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PERCEPTUAL AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT 92 mental health, and brain functioning (Diamond 2007). In the case of perceptual and motor behavior, Diamond (2007) has observed that perception, motor behavior, and cognition occur in the context of culture, emotion, social relationships, and experience, which in turn influence physical and mental health as well as overall brain functioning. Bertenthal (1996) has proposed that perception and motor action are interrelated rather than autonomous processes. They may be best viewed as different components of an action system. Common behaviors such as reaching and turning the head for visual tracking illustrate the interrelatedness of the motor, perceptual, cognitive, and social-emotional domains in infant development. Even as very young infants, children are highly motivated to explore, gain information, attend, and engage their physical and social environments (Gibson 1987). As Gibson (1988, 5) explains: “We don’t simply see, we look.” Research by Berthier (1996, 811) indicates that “infant reaching is not simply a neural program that is triggered by the presence of a goal object, but that infants match the kinematics of their reaches to the task and their goals.” Perception and motor action play a key role in children’s experiences and psychological processes (Thelen 1995). They also contribute to human psychological development in general, since ultimately “behavior is movement” (Adolph and Berger 2005, 223), and psychology can be defined as the study of human behavior. It has been proposed that infants’ use of social information to guide their motor behavior in physically challenging or unfamiliar situations provides an excellent means to study infant social cognition (Tamis- LeMonda and Adolph 2005). Perceptual Development Infants’ perceptual skills are at work during every waking moment. For example, those skills can be observed when an infant gazes into a caregiver’s eyes or distinguishes between familiar and unfamiliar people. Infants use perception to distinguish features of the environment, such as height, depth, and color. “The human infant is recognized today as ‘perceptually competent’; determining just how the senses function in infancy helps to specify the perceptual world of babies” (Bornstein 2005, 284). The ability to perceive commonalities and differences between objects is related to the cognitive domain foundation of classification. Infants explore objects differently depending upon object features such as weight, texture, sound, or rigidity (Palmer 1989). Parents and professionals may have observed young children exploring a slope, such as a slide, by touching it with their hands or feet before they decide whether to slide down it or not. Research by Adolph, Eppler, and Gibson (1993) suggests that learning plays a part in young children’s decision making in physically risky situations, such as navigating slopes, and that exploratory behavior may be a means to this learning. Perception is also strongly related to the social-emotional domain, such as when young children perceive the differences between various facial expressions and come to understand what they may mean.
Gross Motor Development Gross motor development includes the attainment of skills such as rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking, and running. Gross motor behavior enables infants to move and thereby attain different and varied perspectives on the environment. Behaviors such as pulling to stand and climbing present children with new learning opportunities. When infants push a toy stroller or shopping cart, they are also engaging in processes related to cognitive development, such as imitation. The gross motor behaviors involved in active outdoor play with other children are related to children’s development of social skills and an understanding of social rules. 93 Fine Motor Development Through touching, grasping, and manual manipulation, infants experience a sense of agency and learn about the features of people, objects, and the environment. Fine motor development is related to the ability to draw, write, and participate in routines such as eating and dressing. Common early childhood learning materials, such as pegboards, stacking rings, stringing beads, and puzzles, offer opportunities for infants to practice their fine motor skills. Fine motor movements of the hands are coordinated with perceptual information provided through movements of the eyes, as when seven- to nine-month-old infants use visual information to orient their hands as they reach for an object (McCarty and others 2001). PERCEPTUAL AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
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California Infant/Toddler Learning
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Publishing Information The Californ
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A Message from the State Superinten
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The California Infant/Toddler Learn
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operates within social relationship
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profound influence on subsequent de
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of diverse learners. Universal desi
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California Department of Education
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THE EARLY MONTHS 2 child’s brain
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THE EARLY MONTHS 4 the eight-month-
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Social-Emotional Development Social
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espond to adults and engage with th
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Both the understanding and expressi
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ules. Group care settings provide m
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Interactions with Adults Behaviors
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Relationships with Adults Behaviors
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Interactions with Peers Behaviors l
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Foundation: Identity of Self in Rel
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8 months Foundation: Recognition of
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8 months Foundation: Expression of
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Foundation: Empathy The developing
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8 months Foundation: Emotion Regula
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8 months Foundation: Impulse Contro
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8 months Foundation: Social Underst
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Ainsworth, M. D. 1967. Infancy in U
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Fabes, R., and others. 2001. “Pre
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Melson, G., and A. Cohen. 1981. “
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Infant Toddler Learning & Development Foundations

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