Infant Behavior & Development 28 (2005) 445–465 Toy-oriented changes in hand and joint kinematics during the emergence of purposeful reaching A. Bhat, J. Heathcock, J.C. Galloway ∗ Infant Motor Behavior Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy and Biomechanics and Movement Science Program, 329 Mckinly Lab, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA Received 10 December 2004; received in revised form 15 March 2005; accepted 24 March 2005 Abstract Infants first consistently reach for objects between 3 and 5 months of age. In the months before reaching, infants produce a variety of arm movements. The relationship between these early arm movements and the emergence of purposeful reaching is still unclear. The purpose of the present study was to determine how groups of non-reaching, nearly reaching, and newly reaching infants changed the kinematics of their spontaneous arm movements in the presence of a toy. Five infants in each of these groups were observed with a high-speed motion capture system during trials with and without a toy present. Kinematic analyses examined 3D hand, shoulder, and elbow motions. Our results suggest that with a toy present, non-reachers altered their movement quantity whereas near- and new-reachers altered their movement quality through spatio-temporal dissociation and reorientation of the arm. When comparing the changes across groups we observed three preliminary patterns of toy-oriented changes. Our results join other studies to strengthen the relationship between early arm movements and purposeful reaching. Future longitudinal studies are now required to begin to fully understand the complex process by which infants adapt their early arm movements for purposeful behaviors. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Motor development; Infant; Reaching; Motor control; Arm movements; Coordination ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 302 831 3697; fax: +1 302 831 4234. E-mail address: jacgallo@udel.edu (J.C. Galloway). 0163-6383/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2005.03.001