Children have no fear of hazards when learning to walk, finds study
Vesela Gladicheva
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Learning how to crawl and then walk is a major part of infants' development. But as they begin to explore the world around them and make their first steps, babies are not afraid to take risks around steps and cliffs, according to a new study.
The research published in the USA journal Child Development found that babies learning to crawl and walk do not have an in-built fear of heights. Instead, they adopt a very specific approach to how to crawl and then walk.
The study also found that infants do not seem to distinguish safe from risky ground. Even if a baby has learnt to tell the difference between a step and a cliff, then this knowledge does not transfer from crawling to walking.
Researchers from New York University assessed 50 children: 12-month-old experienced crawlers, 12 month-old novice crawlers and 18-month-old experienced walkers.
The infants were encouraged to go down a series of safe and risky drop-offs in an attempt to see what this age group learn and the nature of their learning when crawling and walking.
The experienced crawlers refused to crawl over risky drop-offs, but the novice walkers, contrary to established perceptions that babies avoid cliffs because of a fear of heights, were less cautious and stepped over the edge.
The experienced walkers did not try to walk down risky drop-offs, but descended using other methods, indicating that they were not afraid of the drop-off.
‘These results suggest that the classic explanation for why infants come to avoid a drop-off - fear of heights - is incorrect,’ said Karen E Adolph, one of the study’s co-authors and professor of psychology and neural science at New York University.
‘Our results have important theoretical implications for the field of child development, suggesting that some of the general knowledge that infants appear to gain early in life may in fact be highly specific and tightly linked to their emerging motor abilities.’
The authors claim the findings have implications for infant safety. When designing safety provisions for young infants, noted Adolph, more attention should be paid to newly emerging skills when infants do not seem to distinguish safe from risky ground.
Katrina Phillips, chief executive of the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), said, ‘These findings go against established perceptions of the nature of children's awareness and behaviour when learning to crawl and walk. They have particular implications for the way we think about falls prevention.’
The study’s findings, Phillips added, ‘are an interesting and important insight for our work with parents. They reinforce the need for parents and childcare practitioners to use safety gates to stop young children suffering serious falls.’
The study also found that infants do not seem to distinguish safe from risky ground. Even if a baby has learnt to tell the difference between a step and a cliff, then this knowledge does not transfer from crawling to walking.
Researchers from New York University assessed 50 children: 12-month-old experienced crawlers, 12 month-old novice crawlers and 18-month-old experienced walkers.
The infants were encouraged to go down a series of safe and risky drop-offs in an attempt to see what this age group learn and the nature of their learning when crawling and walking.
The experienced crawlers refused to crawl over risky drop-offs, but the novice walkers, contrary to established perceptions that babies avoid cliffs because of a fear of heights, were less cautious and stepped over the edge.
The experienced walkers did not try to walk down risky drop-offs, but descended using other methods, indicating that they were not afraid of the drop-off.
‘These results suggest that the classic explanation for why infants come to avoid a drop-off - fear of heights - is incorrect,’ said Karen E Adolph, one of the study’s co-authors and professor of psychology and neural science at New York University.
‘Our results have important theoretical implications for the field of child development, suggesting that some of the general knowledge that infants appear to gain early in life may in fact be highly specific and tightly linked to their emerging motor abilities.’
The authors claim the findings have implications for infant safety. When designing safety provisions for young infants, noted Adolph, more attention should be paid to newly emerging skills when infants do not seem to distinguish safe from risky ground.
Katrina Phillips, chief executive of the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), said, ‘These findings go against established perceptions of the nature of children's awareness and behaviour when learning to crawl and walk. They have particular implications for the way we think about falls prevention.’
The study’s findings, Phillips added, ‘are an interesting and important insight for our work with parents. They reinforce the need for parents and childcare practitioners to use safety gates to stop young children suffering serious falls.’
