In the Skill Development Lab, we study how people use their hands to manipulate objects in various ways, including using objects as tools. Although such actions are part of our daily lives, we do not know much about how young children first begin to use objects as tools. Our research is intended to improve our understanding of this very important aspect of normal development.

Our two current projects address how young children (between one and two years old) use a block to hammer a cylinder through a cut-out hole (like a shape through a sorting box), and how babies (between 8 and 12 months) coordinate actions with both hands while handling objects (such as when playing with two blocks). In both studies, the children are videotaped as they act with the blocks and other toys that we give to them. Later, we analyze these tapes very closely, looking at many different aspects of movement (such as how the wrist and elbow flex, or how far the hand moves up and down) in children of different ages.

In the hammering project, we are looking at how young children pound with different kinds of objects: plain blocks or blocks that have a handle (as do hammers that adults use), and blocks composed of all wood or of wood and foam. The variations of materials and of shape pose challenges to very young children.

In the bimanual actions study, we are looking at how babies and toddlers handle two objects that can be moved in different ways. In this study there is no "goal" for the actions; the objects merely provide an opportunity to play.

Would you like your child to participate? We are currently seeking participants 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months for the hammer study, and children from 8 months to 24 months for the bimanual actions study. If your child participates in the hammer study, he or she will be given, one at a time, four blocks and invited to pound a "peg" through a board several times with each block. If your child participates in the bimanual actions study, he or she will be given two wood blocks, a toy drum with drum sticks (tethered to the drum by cords) and a tray with two sliding handles that can each move along a linear track. The entire experimental session lasts about 45 minutes, including a few minutes at the start to get acquainted with our play space and the research team. Each child participant will leave the lab with a souvenir T-shirt and a certificate of participation.

Please all us at 706-542-4132 (ask for Sarah) or email sarahec@egon.psy.uga.edu for further information if you are interested in bringing your child to the lab for either of these studies.