Hand‐eye coordination and infants' construction of convexity and concavity

This study examined the development of visuo‐motor coordination with respect to flatness and to concavity/convexity. The results showed that infants do not reach for objects with their hands differentially according to their concavity /convexity until well after they are able to distinguish these characteristics visually. Younger babies did not begin to adjust the shape of their hands prior to touching stimulus surfaces. By 10 months all the children modified their hand shape appropriately to the surface shape prior to contacting it. Convex objects were approached adaptively earlier in development than concave objects. During the 6–9 months period, the establishment of coordination between visual and haptic perception enabled the latter to supply the former with significant information.