ABSTRACT
In Chapter 5, I reviewed research on the factors that contribute to infants’ beginning to reach for objects, what that transition looks like, and what kinds of changes accompany that development in infants’ motor and cognitive development. In Chapter 6, I delve into how infants’ developing visual-motor abilities allow them to execute increasingly successful reaches for objects. This impacts learning because when infants grasp and hold objects, beginning by about 5 months, they create more effective learning opportunities for themselves. In the second half of the first year, another relevant development occurs: infants’ ability to manipulate one object in relation to another (such as placing a spoon inside a cup and hitting the spoon against the cup: Gesell, 1934; see also Fenson, Kagan, Kearsley, & Zelazo, 1976; Kimmerle, Mick, & Michel, 1995). This accomplishment sets the stage for infants’ using objects instrumentally to achieve certain goals—tool use—which I discuss in Chapter 7.
