Paige Thompson, a second year PhD student working with Dr. Laura Claxton in the Purdue Motor Development Lab, presented work on the role of object carriage on infant’s fall recovery strategies as well as infant and parent reactions to falls at the Society for Research in Child Development that took place in Salt Lake City, Utah in March 2023. The first study examined how 13-month-old infants’ fall recovery strategies differ when carrying or not carrying an object. Holding a toy while falling was found to impact fall recovery strategies. Infants were less likely to use both hands when they contacted the ground. These findings suggest that infants are flexible and adaptive when recovering from a fall. The second study investigated whether infants and caregivers express more concern when infants fall while carrying a toy versus not carrying a toy. Surprisingly, neither caregivers nor infants appeared to view falling with a toy as a more negative event. These findings provide additional insight into how infants and caregivers respond to infant falls in unstructured free-play settings.
