Attention in Action

Research into infant postural development has largely focused on describing motor milestones and documenting changes in motor skill, so that little is known about how changes in postural stability and balance are related to changes in other psychological domains. This longitudinal study examined the reciprocal relationships between postural stability and infant visual attention during the period when infants begin to sit, stand and walk, a time when both postural control and visual attention to objects show significant developmental changes. Data on postural sway, attentional state and visual fixation were collected at five motor milestones: sit onset, stand onset, walk onset, and 3 and 6 months post walk onset. Results showed that infant's visual attention was increased when they used their hands to stabilize posture, and postural sway was attenuated when they were visually attentive to people or objects. These results seem to suggest that perception, action and cognition are "coupled" into stable action systems in infancy, highlighting the importance of mind-body connections, and may have clinical implications for understanding developmental conditions in infancy.