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Developmental
Psychi
1982,
Vol.
18, No. 3, 4:
Copyright 1982
by the
American Psychological Association,
Inc.
0012-1649/82/1803-0450$00.75
Eye-Hand
Coordination
in the
Newborn
Claes
von
Hofsten
University
of
Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
Are the arm and
hand movements
of
newborns
in any way
coordinated with
vision?
If
they
are,
what
are the
properties
of
this
coordination?
These
questions
were
studied
in a
situation
in
which newborns were presented with
a
slowly
moving
object.
In
Experiment
1 the
number
and
distribution
of
arm-hand move-
ments
of
14
infants were examined when
the
object
was
either present
or
absent.
It was
shown that
a
higher proportion
of
movements performed while
the
infant
fixated the
object
was
forward
extended
than
otherwise.
However,
there
was no
difference
in the
absolute frequency
of
forward extension between periods when
the
object
was
present
and
when
it was
absent.
In
Experiment
2 the
forward
extensions
of
13
infants were analyzed
by a
technique that took into consideration
the
three-dimensional properties
of
arm-hand movements.
It was
shown
that
the
movements performed while
the
neonate
fixated
the
object
were
aimed
closer
at
the
object than were other movements.
The
effect
was not a
function
of
changes
in
body posture
or
head direction accompanying changes
in
visual direction.
It
was
further shown that
fixated
movements clustered closer around
the
object
and
that
the
hand slowed down near
the
object
in the
best aimed
of the fixated
movements.
It was
concluded
that
there
exists
in the
newborn
a
rudimentary
form
of
eye-hand
coordination,
the
primary function
of
which
is
attentional
rather than manipulative.
When Bower
and his
associates
(Bower,
1972;
Bower, Broughton,
&
Moore,
1970)
reported evidence about
10
years
ago of
highly
advanced coordination between
eye
and
hand
in the
newborn,
the
developmental
psychologists
and
developmental neurolo-
gists were truly amazed.
Up to
then
the es-
tablished opinion
in the field
denied
the ex-
istence
of any
such
coordinative
structures
in
the
newborn
(see,
e.g.,
Gesell
&
Ama-
truda,
1964;
Piaget, 1953). Coordination
between
visual
and
prehensile activities
was
thought
to
develop only gradually
in
onto-
genesis.
Neonatal motor activity
was
thought
to be
just excited thrashing
of the
limbs
(White,
Castle,
&
Held, 1964).
The
findings
were significant
in yet
another
respect.
Eye-
hand
coordination presupposes tridimen-
sional perception. Motor movements
are
car-
I
wish
to
thank
the
mothers
and the
nurses
at
Ring-
blomman
Akademiska Sjukhuset, Uppsala, Sweden
for
their
helpful
cooperation.
I
also wish
to
thank Annika
Rydberg
for her
experimental
assistance
and
patient
scoring
of
videotapes.
Requests
for
reprints should
be
sent
to
Claes
von
Hofsten,
Department
of
Psychology,
Uppsala
Univer-
sity,
Box
227,
S-751
04
Uppsala, Sweden.
ried
out in a
three-dimensional motor
space.
If
vision
can
direct
the
hand
in
this space,
there must exist
a
visual space mapped onto
the
motor space.
The
existence
of
such
co-
ordination
in the
newborn
would constitute
a
strong argument
for an
inherent capacity
to
visually perceive
the
three dimensions
of
space.
This was, however,
not an
established
fact.
Ever since Berkeley
(1709/1922),
this
point
has
been discussed between nativists
and
empiricists.
Although
several
careful
studies
on the
same topic have been carried
out
since
Bower's original studies (Bower,
1972;
Bower
et
al.,
1970),
no one ha