Relationship Between Visual and Tactual Exploration by 6-Month-Olds

In order to investigate the relationship between infants' visual and tactual exploration, the looking and touching responses of 6-month-olds to objects only visually or tactually novel were observed. Infants were familiarized with an object of a given color and temperature and then were present...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental psychology 1985-07, Vol.21 (4), p.591-600
Main Authors: Bushnell, Emily W, Shaw, Lisa, Strauss, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Child development
Developmental psychology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Stimulus Novelty
Tactual Perception
Visual Perception
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Summary:In order to investigate the relationship between infants' visual and tactual exploration, the looking and touching responses of 6-month-olds to objects only visually or tactually novel were observed. Infants were familiarized with an object of a given color and temperature and then were presented either an object different only in color or one different only in temperature. Infants in the temperature-change condition exhibited both visual and tactual novelty responses, whereas infants in the color-change condition exhibited neither visual nor tactual novelty responses. The results indicate that 6-month-old infants are capable of tactual recognition memory, that temperature is a salient property of objects for infants, and that visual exploration and tactual exploration are not independent perceptual activities but are related in an asymmetrical fashion. The results also support the notion that in some circumstances, young infants may be "tactually captured," that is, they may be so engrossed with the tactual characteristics of an object that attention to its visual properties is diluted.
ISSN:0012-1649
1939-0599
DOI:10.1037/0012-1649.21.4.591