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Laura Claxton investigates factors that impact how infants and young children learn balance, such as sitting, standing, and walking. She identifies the mechanisms through which balance abilities influence developmental changes across various domains, including cognitive and language abilities. For instance, during her research, she found that as infants begin to stand and walk, they exhibit instability, often falling significantly. This instability is attributed to poor balance abilities, weak muscles, and underdeveloped brain functions. However, her findings challenge traditional views of postural development, suggesting that infants can have advanced balance control when they are provided with toys to hold while standing. Current projects include exploring the fall behavior of infants and how object interactions affect infant gait. Claxton is part of an interdisciplinary research team funded by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, investigating how the transition from crawling to walking affects children's health. Her lab serves as a data collection site for the PLAY project—a nationwide, interdisciplinary, NIH-funded project aimed at developing a dataset documenting behaviors of infants and mothers in their natural home environments.
Purdue University • West Lafayette, IN
Teaching and researching motor development, biomechanics, and motor control.
GRE is not required.