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Motor development has been relatively neglected in Developmental Psychology over the past 30 years. A recent renaissance of interest in this domain provides new insights into the dynamic nature of motor development with large individual differences, the myriad of factors influencing motor skill learning, and the long-lasting and important implications of motor activity for cognition, language, and even academic achievement. These behavioral and observational findings raise new questions that need to be addressed by future research. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience is uniquely positioned to answer open questions about motor development and to contribute to our understanding of the processes underlying the variability, malleability, and generality of motor development. This chapter summarizes select current findings and hopes to stimulate future research using Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience methods.

Research has identified early appearing differences in gross and fine motor abilities in infants at heightened risk (HR) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) because they are the younger siblings of children with ASD, and it suggests that such differences may be especially apparent among those HR infants themselves eventually diagnosed with ASD. The present study examined overall and item-level performance on the gross (GM) and fine motor (FM) subscales of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) administered at 6 months to a large, geographically diverse sample of HR infants with varying developmental outcomes (ASD, elevated ADOS without ASD, low ADOS without ASD) and to infants with low ASD risk (low risk [LR]). We also explored whether motor abilities assessed at 6 months predicted ASD symptom severity at 36 months. FM (but not GM) performance distinguished all 3 HR groups from LR infants with the weakest performance observed in the HR-Elevated ADOS children, who exhibited multiple differences from both LR and other HR infants in both gross and fine motor skills. Finally, 6-month FM (but not GM) scores significant predicted 36-month ADOS severity scores in the HR group; but no evidence was found of specific early appearing motor signs associated with a later ASD diagnosis. Vulnerabilities in infants' fine and gross motor skills may have significant consequences for later development not only in the motor domain but in other domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

One recently proposed theory of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) hypothesizes that individuals with the disorder may have difficulty using prior experiences to predict future events [Hellendoorn et al., 2015; Northrup, 2016; Sinha et al., 2014]. To date, this theory has not been tested in infancy. The current study analyzed how young infants at heightened (HR; older sibling with ASD) vs. low risk (LR; no first degree relatives with ASD) for ASD responded to changing contingencies when interacting with two visually identical rattles-one that produced sounds during shaking (Sound), and one that did not (Silent). Infants were given the rattles in a Sound-Silent-Sound order at 6 and 10 months, and shaking behavior was coded. Results indicated that LR and HR infants (regardless of ASD diagnosis) did not differ from each other in shaking behavior at 6 months. However, by 10 months, LR infants demonstrated high initial shaking with all three rattles, indicating expectations for rattle affordances, while HR infants did not. Significantly, HR infants, and particularly those with an eventual ASD diagnosis, did not demonstrate an "extinction burst"-or high level of shaking-in the first 10 sec with the "silent" rattle, indicating that they may have difficulty generalizing learning from one interaction to the next. Further, individual differences in the strength of this "extinction burst" predicted cognitive development in toddlerhood among HR infants. Difficulty forming expectations for new interactions based on previous experiences could impact learning and behavior in a number of domains. Autism Res 2017. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1239-1248. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Early childhood motor development is an important indicator of short- and long-term health. In utero exposures impact offspring health across the lifespan, however, whether maternal activity during pregnancy may impact early childhood motor development remains unknown. This prospective cohort study measured the motor development skills of n = 70 children born to mothers from a previously conducted cohort study which objectively measured activity profile, (sedentary behavior (SED) and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), across pregnancy. Mothers reported the motor development of their child using the Early Motor Questionnaire (EMQ). Linear regression models examined associations between maternal activity profile and EMQ scores. Maternal SED and MVPA were analyzed in two ways: trimester-specific and across pregnancy using trajectory groups. Children were 12–30 months of age, majority white (82%), and 52% male. Maternal SED during pregnancy was not associated with any EMQ domains (gross motor, fine motor, and perception action). Higher maternal MVPA, across pregnancy by trajectory group and in the first and second trimesters, was significantly associated with moderate-sized effects of more advanced fine motor and perception action scores. Higher MVPA in early pregnancy appears to be related to more advanced early childhood motor development. Therefore, maternal MVPA may be a modifiable behavior by which short- and long-term offspring health may be impacted.

The onset of independent prehension marks the beginning of infants’ direct interaction with the physical world. The success infants have in contacting objects with their hands and arms can have both visual and auditory consequences; objects may move and collide with other objects or fall onto table surfaces. Seeing and hearing these events could have important consequences for infants’ learning about objects and their subsequent behavior toward objects. The current research assessed the effects of brief object manipulation experiences and how a specific characteristic of training, auditory feedback produced by hard plastic toys colliding with a tabletop surface, affects pre-reaching infants’ subsequent object exploration. In Experiment 1, infants participated in either active “sticky” mittens training or passive “nonsticky” mittens training with a set of toys; before and after this experience, infants explored a teether. Results showed that infants participating in active training increased looking toward and sustained touching of the teether from pre- to post-training, whereas infants receiving passive training decreased their looking toward and touching of the teether following training. To investigate whether infants’ exploration behaviors were related to the amount of auditory feedback produced by the objects during training, in Experiment 2 data were collected from infants who received active sticky mittens training that had either more or less auditory feedback potential. Results showed more robust increases in infants’ exploratory activity from pre- to post-training in the more auditory feedback condition compared with infants’ exploratory activity in the less auditory feedback condition. These findings support the idea that active control of objects, including experiencing contingent feedback through multiple sensory modalities, promotes the development of object exploration during early infancy.

Anticipatory looking in the context of goal-directed actions emerges during the first year of life. However, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often show diminished social gaze and anticipation while observing goal-directed actions. The current study examined a therapist-mediated social intervention targeting action-anticipation, goal-extraction, and social gaze in 18 children with ASD diagnosis. Before and after the intervention period, children viewed a video displaying a toddler repeatedly placing blocks into a bowl using a cross-body motion. Gaze to the actor’s face and anticipatory gaze to the goal location were analyzed. Results revealed that young children with ASD understand repeated actions and demonstrate goal-extraction even before exposure to the intervention. Further, targeted social intervention experience led to a redistribution of attention in favor of the actor’s face, while retaining action intention comprehension of the block transfer activity. Attention to social aspects during action observation by children with ASD could have favorable cascading effects on social reciprocity, social contingency, and theory of mind development.

Time perception is important for many aspects of human behavior, and a large literature documents that adults represent intervals and that their ability to discriminate temporal intervals is ratio dependent. Here we replicate a recent study by vanMarle and Wynn (2006) that used the visual habituation paradigm and demonstrated that temporal discrimination in 6-month-old infants is also ratio dependent. We further demonstrate that between 6 and 10 months of age temporal discrimination increases in precision such that by 10 months of age infants succeed at discriminating a 2:3 ratio, a ratio that 6-month-old infants were unable to discriminate. We discuss the potential implications of the fact that temporal discrimination follows the same developmental progression that has been previously observed for number discrimination in infancy (Lipton & Spelke, 2003).

Recent findings suggest impaired motor skill development during infancy in children later diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, it remains unclear whether infants at high familial risk for ASD would benefit from early interventions targeting the motor domain. The current study investigated this issue by providing three-month-old infants at high familial risk for ASD with training experiences aimed at facilitating independent reaching. A group of 17 high-risk infants received two weeks of scaffolded reaching experiences using ‘sticky mittens’, and was compared to 72 low-risk infants experiencing the same or alternative training procedures. Results indicate that high-risk infants – just like low-risk infants – show an increase in grasping activity following ‘sticky mittens’ training. In contrast to low risk infants, evidence that motor training encouraged a preference for faces in high-risk infants was inconclusive.

Atypical motor behaviors are common among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, little is known about onset and functional implications of differences in early motor development among infants later diagnosed with ASD. Two prospective experiments were conducted to investigate motor skills among 6-month-olds at increased risk (high risk) for ASD (N1 = 129; N2 = 46). Infants were assessed using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) and during toy play. Across both experiments, high-risk infants exhibited less mature object manipulation in a highly structured (MSEL) context and reduced grasping activity in an unstructured (free-play) context than infants with no family history of ASD. Longitudinal assessments suggest that between 6 and 10 months, grasping activity increases in high-risk infants.

Children's early motor skills are critical for development across language, social, and cognitive domains, and warrant close examination. However, examiner-administered motor assessments are time consuming and expensive. Parent-report questionnaires offer an efficient alternative, but validity of parent report is unclear and only few motor questionnaires exist. In this report, we use cross-sectional and longitudinal data to investigate the validity of parent report in comparison to two examiner-administered measures (Mullen Scales of Early Learning, MSEL; Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, PDMS-2), and introduce a new parent-report measure called the Early Motor Questionnaire (EMQ). Results indicate strong correlations between parent report on the EMQ and a child's age, robust concurrent and predictive validity of parent report with both the MSEL and PDMS-2, and good test-re-test reliability of parent report on the EMQ. Together, our findings support the conclusion that parents provide dependable accounts of early motor and cognitive development.

Reaching is an important and early emerging motor skill that allows infants to interact with the physical and social world. However, few studies have considered how reaching experiences shape infants’ own motor development and their perception of actions performed by others. In the current study, two groups of infants received daily parent guided play sessions over a 2-weeks training period. Using “Sticky Mittens”, one group was enabled to independently pick up objects whereas the other group only passively observed their parent’s actions on objects. Following training, infants’ manual and visual exploration of objects, agents, and actions in a live and a televised context were assessed. Our results showed that only infants who experienced independent object apprehension advanced in their reaching behavior, and showed changes in their visual exploration of agents and objects in a live setting. Passive observation was not sufficient to change infants’ behavior. To our surprise, the effects of the training did not seem to generalize to a televised observation context. Together, our results suggest that early motor training can jump-start infants’ transition into reaching and inform their perception of others’ actions.