ABSTRACT
A significant aspect of development is that it occurs in a social context (Lockman & Hazen, 1989). The presence of other people and their role in the first years of our lives are so natural and omnipresent that it is easy to overlook the intricacy of the interpersonal coordination that must develop. The reason underlying this oversight is perhaps the unilateral nature of the coordination behavior in early care-provider/infant actions (i.e., care-provider implemented). However, as the infant develops a motor repertoire, the coordination goals necessarily become more mutual (as any parent can attest) and the intricacy of coordination involved becomes more obvious. The basis for the ensuing social coordination that develops is necessarily interpersonal motor coordination. The early dyadic activities of conversation and play are necessarily spatially and biomechanically constrained. For example, in order for child and adult to converse, or play pata-cake or peek-a-boo, there must be a coordination of the direction of gaze (Fogel, Nwokah, Hsu, Dedo, & Walker, 1993) if not limbs.
