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Infants born full term and preterm increase the height of anti‐gravity leg movements during a kick‐activated mobile task using a scaffolded task environment
Author(s) -
Kim Jeong Ah,
Fetters Linda,
Kubo Masayoshi,
Eckel Sandrah P.,
Sargent Barbara
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1111/infa.12379
Subject(s) - task (project management) , psychology , term (time) , association (psychology) , motor skill , developmental psychology , physical medicine and rehabilitation , audiology , medicine , physics , management , quantum mechanics , economics , psychotherapist
Prior research supports that infants born very preterm (PT), compared with full term (FT), have early differences in rate of learning and motor control that may hinder their ability to learn challenging motor tasks. Four‐month‐old infants born FT ( n = 18) and PT ( n = 18) participated in an infant kick‐activated mobile task that was scaffolded to motivate progressively higher kicks. We found the FT group learned the association between their leg movements and mobile activation on the second day, but the PT group learned the association on the third day. Both groups of infants increased the height of their kicks on the day they learned the task, compared with their spontaneous kicking height. These findings suggest that infants born PT have the ability to learn challenging motor tasks, such as kicking high, when participating in a task environment that uses scaffolding.