The adjustment of reaching behavior to object distance in early infancy.

The prehensile activity and looking behavior of 2- and 5-month-old infants were videotaped in the presence of objects placed within and beyond possible contact distance. There was only a consistent adjustment of reaching behavior to stimulus distance in the case of the 5-month-old group. The distance discrimination evident in the prehensile activity of the older infants was paralleled by a reduction in the amount of attention paid to far objects.