Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Brain Reorganization As A Function Of Walking Experience In 12-Month-Old Infants: Implications For The Development Of Manual Laterality, Daniela Corbetta, Denise R. Friedman, Martha Ann Bell

Psychology Publications and Other Works

Hand preference in infancy is marked by many developmental shifts in hand use and arm coupling as infants reach for and manipulate objects. Research has linked these early shifts in hand use to the emergence of fundamental postural–locomotor milestones. Specifically, it was found that bimanual reaching declines when infants learn to sit; increases if infants begin to scoot in a sitting posture; declines when infants begin to crawl on hands and knees; and increases again when infants start walking upright. Why such pattern fluctuations during periods of postural–locomotor learning? One proposed hypothesis is that arm use practiced for the specific …