Bibliography Reach, grasp and manipulation

Corbetta, D., & Fagard, J. (2017). Editorial: Infants' Understanding and Production of Goal-Directed Actions in the Context of Social and Object-Related Interactions. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 787.

Ferre, C. L., Babik, I., & Michel, G. F. (2020). A perspective on the development of hemispheric specialization, infant handedness, and cerebral palsy. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 127, 208–220.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32224319/

Corbetta

Williams, J. L., & Corbetta, D. (2016). Assessing the Impact of Movement Consequences on the Development of Early Reaching in Infancy. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 587. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00587

 

Corbetta, D., Thurman, S. L., Wiener, R. F., Guan, Y., & Williams, J. L. (2014). Mapping the feel of the arm with the sight of the object: on the embodied origins of infant reaching. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 576. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00576

For decades, the emergence and progression of infant reaching was assumed to be largely under the control of vision. More recently, however, the guiding role of vision in the emergence of reaching has been downplayed. Studies found that young infants can reach in the dark without seeing their hand and that corrections in infants' initial hand trajectories are not the result of visual guidance of the hand, but rather the product of poor movement speed calibration to the goal. As a result, it has been proposed that learning to reach is an embodied process requiring infants to explore proprioceptively different movement solutions, before they can accurately map their actions onto the intended goal. Such an account, however, could still assume a preponderant (or prospective) role of vision, where the movement is being monitored with the scope of approximating a future goal-location defined visually. At reach onset, it is unknown if infants map their action onto their vision, vision onto their action, or both. To examine how infants learn to map the feel of their hand with the sight of the object, we tracked the object-directed looking behavior (via eye-tracking) of three infants followed weekly over an 11-week period throughout the transition to reaching. We also examined where they contacted the object. We find that with some objects, infants do not learn to align their reach to where they look, but rather learn to align their look to where they reach. We propose that the emergence of reaching is the product of a deeply embodied process, in which infants first learn how to direct their movement in space using proprioceptive and haptic feedback from self-produced movement contingencies with the environment. As they do so, they learn to map visual attention onto these bodily centered experiences, not the reverse. We suggest that this early visuo-motor mapping is critical for the formation of visually-elicited, prospective movement control.

Williams, J. L., & Corbetta, D. (2016). Assessing the Impact of Movement Consequences on the Development of Early Reaching in Infancy. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 587. 
Prior research on infant reaching has shown that providing infants with repeated opportunities to reach for objects aids the emergence and progression of reaching behavior. This study investigated the effect of movement consequences on the process of learning to reach in pre-reaching infants. Thirty-five infants aged 2.9 months at the onset of the study were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups. Two groups received a 14-day intervention to distinct reaching tasks: (1) in a contingent group, a toy target moved and sounded upon contact only, and (2) in a continuous group, the toy moved and sounded continuously, independent of hand-toy contact. A third control group did not receive any intervention; this group's performance was assessed only on 2 days at a 15-day interval. Results revealed that infants in the contingent group made the most progress over time compared to the two other groups. Infants in this group made significantly more overall contacts with the sounding/moving toy, and they increased their rate of visually attended target contacts relative to non-visually attended target contacts compared to the continuous and control groups. Infants in the continuous group did not differ from the control group on the number of hand-toy contacts nor did they show a change in visually attended target versus non-visually attended target contacts ratio over time. However, they did show an increase in movement speed, presumably in an attempt to attain the moving toy. These findings highlight the importance of contingent movement consequences as a critical reinforcer for the selection of action and motor learning in early development. Through repeated opportunities to explore movement consequences, infants discover and select movements that are most successful to the task-at-hand. This study further demonstrates that distinct sensory-motor experiences can have a significant impact on developmental trajectories and can influence the skills young infants will discover through their interactions with their surroundings.

von Hofsten

von Hofsten C, Rosander K. The Development of Sensorimotor Intelligence in Infants. Adv Child Dev Behav. 2018;55:73-106. doi: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2018.04.003. Epub 2018 May 21. Review. PubMed PMID: 30031439. 2:

von Hofsten C, Rönnqvist L. The structuring of neonatal arm movements. Child Dev. 1993 Aug;64(4):1046-57. PubMed PMID: 8404256.

The organization and structuring of spontaneous arm movements of 8 neonates were studied quantitatively. The movements were divided up into units, each consisting of 1 acceleration and 1 deceleration phase. This analysis showed that the movements had a distinct temporal structuring. An analysis of curvature was also performed, and it showed that the most distinct changes in movement direction occurred at the transitions between movement units. Finally, the movements of the 2 arms were found to be coupled in all 3 dimensions of space. They had a clear tendency to move together along the body's longitudinal axis, abduct and adduct together, and extend together in the forward direction.

Gottwald JM, De Bortoli Vizioli A, Lindskog M, Nyström P, L Ekberg T, von Hofsten C, Gredebäck G. Infants prospectively control reaching based on the difficulty of future actions: To what extent can infants' multiple-step actions be explained by Fitts' law? Dev Psychol. 2017 Jan;53(1):4-12. doi: 10.1037/dev0000212. PubMed PMID: 28026189.

Prospective motor control, a key element of action planning, is the ability to adjust one's actions with respect to task demands and action goals in an anticipatory manner. The current study investigates whether 14-month-olds can prospectively control their reaching actions based on the difficulty of the subsequent action. We used a reach-to-place task, with difficulty of the placing action varied by goal size and goal distance. To target prospective motor control, we determined the kinematics of the prior reaching movements using a motion-tracking system. Peak velocity of the first movement unit of the reach served as indicator for prospective motor control. Both difficulty aspects (goal size and goal distance) affected prior reaching, suggesting that both these aspects of the subsequent action have an impact on the prior action. The smaller the goal size and the longer the distance to the goal, the slower infants were in the beginning of their reach toward the object. Additionally, we modeled movement times of both reaching and placing actions using a formulation of Fitts' law (as in heading). The model was significant for placement and reaching movement times. These findings suggest that 14-month-olds can plan their future actions and prospectively control their related movements with respect to future task difficulties.

 Savelsbergh G, von Hofsten C, Jonsson B. The coupling of head, reach and grasp movement in nine months old infant prehension. Scand J Psychol. 1997 Dec;38(4):325-33. PubMed PMID: 9449194.

In 9-month-old-infants adjustments in the reaching pattern to sudden changes in object location were examined. An attractive ball was presented to the infants at their midline and on some trials (perturbation trials) the ball suddenly changed position 15 cm to the right or left during the reach. For the perturbed trials the movement times approximately doubled compared to the control trials and significantly fewer balls were grasped. The results indicate that infants need to finish the first movement before being able to redirect the reach to a new destination. The correlation between the latency of the head and hand adjustment to the perturbation were 0.85 and 0.78 for movements to the left and to the right, respectively, indicating a tight coupling. The time between the start of the perturbation and peak velocity (TPPV) was significantly shorter for the head movement than for the hand movement, indicating that the head is leading the hand.

Cunha AB, Soares Dde A, Carvalho Rde P, Rosander K, von Hofsten C, Tudella E. Maturational and situational determinants of reaching at its onset. Infant Behav Dev. 2015 Nov;41:64-72. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.06.003. Epub 2015 Sep 2. PubMed PMID: 26311469.

At 3 months of age, reaching behavior was measured in a group of 10 girls and 10 boys born at term. The assessments were carried out on the average 2 days after reaching onset. Reaching kinematics was measured in both supine and reclined positions. Girls reached more than boys, had straighter reaching trajectories and movements of shorter durations as well as fewer movement units. The reclined position gave rise to straighter trajectories in both girls and boys. Several anthropometric parameters were measured. Girls had less length and volume of the forearm than boys but similar upper arm volumes. There was a weak relation between kinematic and anthropometric variables.

Bertenthal B, Von Hofsten C. Eye, head and trunk control: the foundation for manual development. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 1998 Jul;22(4):515-20. Review. PubMed PMID: 9595563.

Mastery of reaching and manipulation relies on adequate postural control. The trunk must be balanced relative to a base of support to allow free movements of the arms and hands. Moreover, the head must be supported flexibly by the trunk so that gaze can be directed toward the target to provide a spatial frame of reference for reaching. For fine manipulation it is also crucial to avoid retinal slips which would introduce blur. Stabilizing gaze is generally accomplished through adjustments of both eye and head position. Until gaze is stabilized, it is difficult to establish a frame of reference between the target and the self. Thus, a nested hierarchy of support involving the eyes, head, and trunk forms an important foundation for manual activity.


Iryna Babik  and Michel

Ferre, C. L., Babik, I., & Michel, G. F. (2020). A perspective on the development of hemispheric specialization, infant handedness, and cerebral palsy. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 127, 208–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.02.017

Babik I, Michel GF. Development of role-differentiated bimanual manipulation in infancy: Part 1. The emergence of the skill. Dev Psychobiol. 2016 Mar;58(2):243-56. doi: 10.1002/dev.21382. Epub 2015 Dec 8. PubMed PMID: 26644301.

2: Babik I, Michel GF. Development of role-differentiated bimanual manipulation in infancy: Part 3. Its relation to the development of bimanual object acquisition and bimanual non-differentiated manipulation. Dev Psychobiol. 2016 Mar;58(2):268-77. doi: 10.1002/dev.21383. Epub 2015 Dec 8. PubMed PMID: 26642790.

3: Babik I, Michel GF. Development of role-differentiated bimanual manipulation in infancy: Part 2. Hand preferences for object acquisition and RDBM--continuity or discontinuity? Dev Psychobiol. 2016 Mar;58(2):257-67. doi: 10.1002/dev.21378. Epub 2015 Nov 3. PubMed PMID: 26526812.

4: Nelson EL, Campbell JM, Michel GF. Unimanual to bimanual: tracking the development of handedness from 6 to 24 months. Infant Behav Dev. 2013 Apr;36(2):181-8. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2013.01.009. Epub 2013 Feb 28. PubMed PMID: 23454419; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3615031.

Kimmerle M, Ferre CL, Kotwica KA, Michel GF. Development of role-differentiated bimanual manipulation during the infant's first year. Dev Psychobiol. 2010 Mar;52(2):168-80. doi: 10.1002/dev.20428. PubMed PMID: 20127887.

Jana Iverson 

Koterba, E. A., Leezenbaum, N. B., & Iverson, J. M. (2012). Object exploration at 6 and 9 months in infants with and without risk for autism. Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 18(2), 97-105.

During the first year of life, infants spend substantial amounts of time exploring objects they encounter in their daily environments. Perceptuo-motor information gained through these experiences provides a foundation for later developmental advances in cognition and language. This study aims to examine developmental trajectories of visual, oral, and manual object exploration in infants with and without risk for autism spectrum disorder before the age of 1 year. A total of 31 infants, 15 of whom had an older sibling with autism and who were therefore at heightened risk for autism spectrum disorder, played with sounding and nonsounding rattles at 6 and 9 months of age. The results suggest that heightened-risk infants lag behind their low-risk peers in the exploration of objects. The findings are discussed in terms of how delays in object exploration in infancy may have cascading effects in other domains.

Soares and Tudella 

Soares Dde A, von Hofsten C, Tudella E. Development of exploratory behavior in late preterm infants. Infant Behav Dev. 2012 Dec;35(4):912-5. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2012.09.002. Epub 2012 Oct 13. PubMed PMID: 23069127.

2: de Almeida Soares D, Cunha AB, Tudella E. Differences between late preterm and full-term infants: comparing effects of a short bout of practice on early reaching behavior. Res Dev Disabil. 2014 Nov;35(11):3096-107. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.07.041. Epub 2014 Aug 15. Erratum in: Res Dev Disabil. 2015 May;40:74. PubMed PMID: 25134076.

Soares Dde A, von Hofsten C, Tudella E. Development of exploratory behavior in late preterm infants. Infant Behav Dev. 2012 Dec;35(4):912-5. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2012.09.002. Epub 2012 Oct 13. PubMed PMID: 23069127.

de Toledo AM, Soares DA, Tudella E. Proximal and distal adjustments of reaching behavior in preterm infants. J Mot Behav. 2011;43(2):137-45. doi: 10.1080/00222895.2011.552076. PubMed PMID: 21400327.

de Toledo AM, Soares DA, Tudella E. Additional weight influences the reaching behavior of low-risk preterm infants. J Mot Behav. 2012;44(3):203-12. doi: 10.1080/00222895.2012.676580. PubMed PMID: 22647245. 4:

Soares Dde A, Toledo Ade M, Carvalho Rde P, Tudella E. Effect of weight load added to wrists on manual non-exploratory and exploratory behaviors in infants. Percept Mot Skills. 2013 Oct;117(2):651-63. PubMed PMID: 24611265. 

Soares Dde A, van der Kamp J, Savelsbergh GJ, Tudella E. The effect of a short bout of practice on reaching behavior in late preterm infants at the onset of reaching: a randomized controlled trial. Res Dev Disabil. 2013 Dec;34(12):4546-58. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2013.09.028. Epub 2013 Oct 18. PubMed PMID: 24145045. 6:

Cunha AB, Soares Dde A, Carvalho Rde P, Rosander K, von Hofsten C, Tudella E. Maturational and situational determinants of reaching at its onset. Infant Behav Dev. 2015 Nov;41:64-72. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.06.003. Epub 2015 Sep 2. PubMed PMID: 26311469.

Australia-Sweden group 

Greaves S, Imms C, Krumlinde-Sundholm L, Dodd K, Eliasson AC. Bimanual behaviours in children aged 8-18 months: a literature review to select toys that elicit the use of two hands. Res Dev Disabil. 2012 Jan-Feb;33(1):240-50. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.09.012. Epub 2011 Oct 11. Review. PubMed PMID: 22093670.

Eliasson, A. C., Sjöstrand, L., Ek, L., Krumlinde-Sundholm, L., & Tedroff, K. (2014). Efficacy of baby-CIMT: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial on infants below age 12 months, with clinical signs of unilateral CP. BMC pediatrics, 14, 141. doi:10.1186/1471-2431-14-141

Ek L, Eliasson AC, Sicola E, et al. Hand Assessment for Infants: normative reference values. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2019;61(9):1087-1092. doi:10.1111/dmcn.14163

Heathcock  Lobo Dusing Galloway

Lobo, M. A., Galloway, J. C., & Heathcock, J. C. (2014). Characterization and intervention for upper extremity exploration & reaching behaviors in infancy. Journal of hand therapy : official journal of the American Society of Hand Therapists, 28(2), 114-24; quiz 125.

This article aims to: 1) highlight general exploration, reaching, and object exploration behaviors as key activities of daily living in infancy, 2) describe how knowledge of early warning signs for these behaviors may improve early assessment, and 3) discuss interventions that may advance performance of these behaviors. Early intervention should focus on improving performance of these behaviors because: a) these early, interrelated upper extremity behaviors serve an integral role in global learning and development in infancy, b) among at-risk populations, differences have been observed in the quantity and quality of performance of these behaviors and, in many cases, these differences are associated with related perceptual-motor and cognitive delays. This article highlights how early assessment and intervention can target these key early behaviors in populations at risk for upper extremity disabilities, such as those born preterm, with Down syndrome, brachial plexus palsy, or arthrogryposis multiplex congentia.

Chorna, O., Heathcock, J., Key, A., Noritz, G., Carey, H., Hamm, E., Nelin, M. A., Murray, M., Needham, A., Slaughter, J. C., … Maitre, N. L. (2015). Early childhood constraint therapy for sensory/motor impairment in cerebral palsy: a randomised clinical trial protocol. BMJ open, 5(12), e010212. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010212

Chen CY, Lo WD, Heathcock JC. Neonatal stroke causes poor midline motor behaviors and poor fine and gross motor skills during early infancy. Res Dev Disabil. 2013 Mar;34(3):1011-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2012.11.028. Epub 2013 Jan 3. PubMed PMID: 23291519.

Dusing, S. C., Lobo, M. A., Lee, H. M., & Galloway, J. C. (2013). Intervention in the first weeks of life for infants born late preterm: a case series. Pediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy Association, 25(2), 194-203.

Lobo MA, Galloway JC. The onset of reaching significantly impacts how infants explore both objects and their bodies. Infant Behav Dev. 2013 Feb;36(1):14-24.

Lobo, M. A., Kokkoni, E., Cunha, A. B., & Galloway, J. C. (2014). Infants born preterm demonstrate impaired object exploration behaviors throughout infancy and toddlerhood. Physical therapy, 95(1), 51-64.

Lobo, M. A., Kokkoni, E., de Campos, A. C., & Galloway, J. C. (2014). Not just playing around: infants' behaviors with objects reflect ability, constraints, and object properties. Infant behavior & development, 37(3), 334-51.

Heathcock JC, Lobo M, Galloway JC. Movement training advances the emergence of reaching in infants born at less than 33 weeks of gestational age: a randomized clinical trial. Phys Ther. 2008 Mar;88(3):310-22. Epub 2007 Dec 20. PubMed PMID: 18096650.

Italian Research Groups 

Zoia, S., Blason, L., D'Ottavio, G., Biancotto, M., Bulgheroni, M., & Castiello, U. (2013). The development of upper limb movements: from fetal to post-natal life. PloS one, 8(12), e80876. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080876

Guzzetta A, Pizzardi A, Belmonti V, Boldrini A, Carotenuto M, D'Acunto G, Ferrari F, Fiori S, Gallo C, Ghirri P, Mercuri E, Romeo D, Roversi MF, Cioni G. Hand movements at 3 months predict later hemiplegia in term infants with neonatal cerebral infarction. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2010 Aug;52(8):767-72

 

French Researchers 

Ouss, L., Le Normand, M. T., Bailly, K., Leitgel Gille, M., Gosme, C., Simas, R., Wenke, J., Jeudon, X., Thepot, S., Da Silva, T., Clady, X., Thoueille, E., Afshar, M., Golse, B., … Guergova-Kuras, M. (2018). Developmental Trajectories of Hand Movements in Typical Infants and Those at Risk of Developmental Disorders: An Observational Study of Kinematics during the First Year of Life. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 83. 

Other researchers

Wallace PS, Whishaw IQ. Independent digit movements and precision grip patterns in 1-5-month-old human infants: hand-babbling, including vacuous then self-directed hand and digit movements, precedes targeted reaching. Neuropsychologia. 2003;41(14):1912-1918. doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(03)00128-3 

Thomas BL, Karl JM, Whishaw IQ. Independent development of the Reach and the Grasp in spontaneous self-touching by human infants in the first 6 months. Front Psychol. 2015;5:1526. Published 2015 Jan 8. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01526

Thomas, B. L., Karl, J. M., & Whishaw, I. Q. (2015). Independent development of the Reach and the Grasp in spontaneous self-touching by human infants in the first 6 months. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 1526. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01526

DiMercurio, A., Connell, J. P., Clark, M., & Corbetta, D. (2018). A Naturalistic Observation of Spontaneous Touches to the Body and Environment in the First 2 Months of Life. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 2613. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02613