On Sat, 09 Jul 2011 08:19:46 -0700, Carol DeVolder wrote: >Hi, >A student recently e-mailed me and asked a question that I >can't answer. He wrote that his mother adamantly claims there >is a strong correlation between infants' crawling and their eventual >reading ability and he says their isn't.
Your student can always ask his mom what is the basis for her claim but I suspect that she probably can't provide one especially if she's not a psychologist and/or academic and/or a clinician. >He said he has done some searching of the literature and has found >nothing and asked if I know of any evidence to which he could turn; >but, since this isn't my area I wonder if any developmental psychology >experts could offer suggestions. I don't consider myself an expert in developmental psychology though I have some background in this area. A PsycInfo search for "crawling" and "reading" produces no hits. A search for "crawling" and "cognitive development" does provide some hits but nothing specifically about crawling and reading. An introduction by Rakison and Woodward (2008) to a special issue of Developmental Psychology on action and cognitive development provides some relevant background on the relationships but also points out that in recent decades research on action and cognitive development has been pretty meager. Piaget is acknowledged as one source for thinking about how action schemas serve as a basis for later cognition but the unstated rejection of a number of Piaget's findings and theoretical positions may have caused researchers not to work in this area. Consider the following quote from Rakison and Woodward: |The contributions to this special section highlight the still largely |open question of how action renders its effects on cognition and |perception. According to Piaget (1952, 1954), knowledge is slowly |constructed through the internalization of motor actions, and |consequently mental representations do not emerge until around |18 months of age. Following the classic work of Spelke, Baillargeon, |Meltzoff, and others (e.g., Baillargeon, 1998; Spelke, Breinlinger, |Macomber, & Jacobson, 1992; Meltzoff & Moore, 1999), few |developmental scientists adhere to this position today. What, then, |are the mechanisms by which action alters infants' perceptual and |cognitive abilities? In all likelihood, as a number of the articles here |suggest, there is a bidirectional link between action, on the one hand, |and perception and cognition, on the other; action affects what is |represented about the world, and in turn these representations affect |what is acted upon. But, as the special section illustrates, there are |probably many means by which action has its developmental effects. |We outline here a number of the more prominent of these accounts. The reference for the introductory article is given below and one should examine the articles in the same issue that are mentioned. Rakison, D. H., & Woodward, A. L. (2008). New perspectives on the effects of action on perceptual and cognitive development. Developmental Psychology, 44(5), 1209-1213. doi:10.1037/a0012999 -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=11352 or send a blank email to leave-11352-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
