Decisions at the Brink: Locomotor Experience Affects Infants' Use of Social Information on an Adjustable Drop-off.

Lana B Karasik,Karen E Adolph,Catherine S Tamis-Lemonda

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00797

Abstract

How do infants decide what to do at the brink of a precipice? Infants could use two sources of information to guide their actions: perceptual information generated by their own exploratory activity and social information offered by their caregivers. The current study investigated the role of locomotor experience in using social information—both encouragement and discouragement—for descending drop-offs. Mothers of 30 infants (experienced 12-month-old crawlers, novice 12-month-old walkers, and experienced 18-month-old walkers) encouraged and discouraged descent on a gradation of drop-offs (safe “steps” and risky “cliffs”). Novice walkers descended more frequently than experienced crawlers and walkers and fell while attempting to walk over impossibly high cliffs. All infants showed evidence of integrating perceptual and social information, but locomotor experience affected infants’ use of social messages, especially on risky drop-offs. Experienced crawlers and walkers selectively deferred to social information when perceptual information is ambiguous. In contrast, novice walkers took mothers’ advice inconsistently and only at extreme drop-offs.

Highlights

How do infants appraise the situation while peering over the top of a staircase as their mother screams for them to stop? How do they decide what to do when perched at the top of a playground slide as their mother beckons with open arms from the bottom? In such potentially risky situations, two sources of information are available to guide motor action—perceptual information generated from infants’ own exploratory activity and social information offered by caregivers (TamisLeMonda et al, 2008)
We addressed the role of locomotor experience and age in infants’ use of social information at the brink of drop-offs that varied in risk
We found that locomotor experience and age affected infants’ use of social information on drop-offs: experienced infants selectively used social information to guide their decisions but ignored encouragement on large drop-offs where perceptual information specified risk

Summary

Introduction

In such potentially risky situations, two sources of information are available to guide motor action—perceptual information generated from infants’ own exploratory activity and social information offered by caregivers (TamisLeMonda et al, 2008). Both types of information can convey to infants whether an action is possible or should be avoided (Franchak and Adolph, 2014). When infants are uncertain about how to act based on perceptual information, caregivers may know best how to respond Picture these everyday examples: after a hard fall, infants often look to their mothers to decide whether to cry or to keep going, and their reactions may depend on mothers’ frightened gasp or reassuring smile. Infants explore forbidden situations despite mothers’ discouragement: they dig into the bowl of dog food, completely ignoring mothers’ prohibition to stop (Tamis-LeMonda et al, 2007).

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Conclusion