Paige Thompson, a first year PhD student working with Dr. Laura Claxton in the Purdue Motor Development Lab, presented her work on bimanual motor interactions in infancy at the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) held in Hawaii in June 2022. This work investigated how infants develop role differentiated bimanual manipulation (RDBM), where one hand manipulates an object while the other hand stabilizes the object. For example, when hammering a nail, one hand swings the hammer, while the other hand stabilizes the nail. This process requires a high level of motor coordination. The development of this behavior in infants is often assessed in structured tasks with toys designed to elicit this behavior. While informative, structured tasks miss how this behavior emerges in naturalistic settings, where factors such as infant toy preference may impact behavior. Paige demonstrated that while infants engaged in role differentiated bimanual manipulation (RDBM), there were key differences in the infants’ behaviors in naturalistic settings compared to a structured task. These differences highlight the importance of assessing infant motor development in naturalistic settings.
