Effects of object novelty on the visual and manual exploration of infants

Schaffer and Parry presented evidence that 6-month-old infants are indiscriminate in their manual approach to familiar and novel objects, while 12-month-old infants show wariness and delay before contacting novel objects. An experiment is reported which failed to replicate these findings. Both 6- and 12-month-old infants reached quickly for a novel object, but were slower as it became more familiar. When offered a choice between a novel and a familiar object, infants at both ages preferred to reach for the novel one.