A pick-me-up for infants' exploratory skills: Early simulated experiences reaching for objects using 'sticky mittens' enhances young infants' object exploration skills

Infants' early object contact was enriched by giving a group of pre-reaching infants experience with prehension earlier than they would normally acquire it. These infants received 10-14 10-min play sessions wearing "sticky mittens": mittens with palms that stuck to the edges of toys and allowed the infants to pick up the toys. After these enrichment sessions, the experienced infants' object engagement and object exploration skills were compared to those of infants who were the same age as the experienced infants but had not received the play sessions. The results showed that the experienced infants showed more object engagement via a number of measures, and showed more sophisticated object exploration strategies compared to their inexperienced peers. The results suggest that the early simulated experience reaching for objects serves to jump-start the process of object engagement in young infants. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.