Object Manipulation and Exploration in 2- to 5-Month-Old Infants

The early development of explorarory behavior was studied. One study documents changes in free exploration of infants aged from 2 to 5 months. Another compares 3and 4-5 month-olds when manipulating and exploring an object in the light or in the dark (no visual control over exploration). The third study compares multimodal exploration in 3and 4-month-olds when presented with two different objects varying in multiple properties. Results show that significant changes occur between 2 and 5 months, relative to spontaneous multimodal exploration of a novel object. Object exploration becomes increasingly multimodal. Bimanual coordination is first linked to the oral system, later reorganized in reference to vision when fingering emerges by 4 months. Manipulation in 3-montholds is shown to be object-dependent. Factors controlling early object manipulation and functional changes in manual action prior to 6 months of age are discussed.