Goal-Directed Actions and Early Experience With Crawling

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in infant goal-directed actions after a period of experience with crawling. Sixty-four infants from ages 24 to 54 weeks were divided into precrawling (n = 33) and crawling (n = 31) groups and the mean number of goal-directed actions was compared using an analysis of covariance to control for the effect of age. Three infants were selected for longitudinal observations on a bimonthly basis providing descriptive examples of daily observations. Controlling for age, the main effect for crawling status was statistically significant (F(1, 61) = 11.13, p = .001), with crawlers demonstrating a greater mean number of goal-directed actions than precrawlers. This study is the first to compare the goal-directed actions of precrawlers and crawlers, confirming an increase in infant goal-directed actions after infants gained experience with crawling.