Role and trends in voluntary action repetition during infants’ object play

ABSTRACT

Repetition is a salient strategy used by human and non-human cohorts for learning and controlling behavior. It this research project, a case study was conducted to explore deliberate voluntary repetition in younger cohorts during their spontaneous solitary play with single or multiple objects. Two main types of repetition — blocked and random — were considered. Among random repetitions, three goals were identified, namely cognitive, social, and motor goals. In this case study, we followed 15 infants longitudinally to explore the nature of repetition types. We pinpointed 123 repeating play acts with objects, and the analysis showed that each play act was repeated at least three times. The most prevalent repetition was blocked repetition, which captured two-thirds of the entire rehearsal quantity. The most preferred play act used by the infants to execute the repetitions was single-object play. The infants’ tendency to use blocked repetition mainly during play with a single object explained.

KEYWORDS:

• Rehearsal
• object play
• repetition
• blocked practice
• random practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Edna Orr

Edna Orr completed her M.A. and Ph.D. studies cum laude at Bar-Ilan University in the Early Childhood Track. Her PhD. Degree was in early childhood Education from Bar-Ilan University, Israel, in 2008. She is the head of the Quantitative Unit for Final project M.Ed. and M.Ed Thesis supervisor in “Gordon academic college of education”, Haifa. Her research focuses on the cognitive development of infants and children. The essential cognitive skills that she explored pertains to play, language, early literacy, and school readiness, which examined from a dynamic perspective that considers the ecological and personal factors involved in the developmental process. This inclusive trajectory seeks a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in development.