Research Interests
One set of studies examines the development of infants' ability to inhibit. Infants are asked to make their way over to a parent several times in a row. Then, the parent switches locations and we test whether infants can track their parent at the new location. Infants' ability to inhibit going to the old location depends on the motor demands of the task, as well as on infants' locomotor experience. For example, when infants walk or crawl on flat ground, they have no difficulty going to the new location. However, when they have to descend a set of steps, crawl through a tunnel, or make a detour to reach the end, they are more likely to take the old, familiar path, despite their parent being in full view at the end of the new path!With Karen Adolph at NYU, I also study infants' understanding of a handrail as a tool for keeping balance. In this set of studies, infants are encouraged to walk across wide and narrow bridges, sometimes with a handrail and sometimes without. Infants with walking experience made highly accurate locomotor decisions. They only crossed narrow bridges when a handrail was available and they modified they way they walked to fit their bodies on the bridges. They took into account the composition of the handrail (whether it was wobbly or sturdy) and its spatial relationship to the bridge (whether it was near or far) when judging its effectiveness as a tool. Moreover, they invented new strategies for walking and using the handrail when only a wobbly or far handrail was available.
My other research interest is how social factors can influence infants' motor development. We have learned that parents influence how and when infants learn to climb stairs by controlling their children's access and by teaching them descent strategies. I am also investigating the role that older siblings play on their younger siblings' motor development. Do younger siblings have an advantage by imitating what their older siblings do? Or are they at a disadvantage because older siblings had their parents all to themselves?