ABSTRACT
The chapter reviews the current state of research on the development of anticipatory planning skills for object manipulation – as signified by the end-state comfort (ESC) effect – in 3- to 12-year-old children. The research findings suggest a rather protracted developmental pathway, with the critical age for the ESC effect to be present in children being 5–6 years, while adult-like behavior may only be reached at age 10 and beyond. A three-stage developmental model is introduced to account for the different levels of proficiency across childhood, providing an associative learning framework for the acquisition of object manipulation skills.
