Following their companions as a form of exploration for human infants.

Infants' following of other persons, often considered a measure of attachment, qualified as a form of exploration. The results of the first experiment indicated that following can be a means of investigating novel leaders: 16 9--12-month-old infants were as likely to follow an unfamiliar woman as they were the parent and were reliably more likely to follow a moving toy. The second and third experiments assessed the extent to which the experience of following familiar persons promotes learning about the environment. Infants who followed their mothers to 1 place were more likely later to investigate a similar place than those who initially either locomoted independently (experiment 2) or were transported by their mothers (experiment 3). The findings suggested that infants' transactions with the environment need not be considered antithetical to their social behavior.