Lew, Adina R. and Butterworth, George (1995) The effects of hunger on hand-mouth coordination in newborn infants. Developmental Psychology, 31 (3). pp. 456-463. ISSN 0012-1649
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
The spontaneous hand–mouth (HM) behavior of a group of newborn infants was analyzed before and after feeding to examine the hypothesis that there is a link between hunger and HM coordination. There was no difference in the relative distribution of contacts on the mouth compared with other parts of the face as a result of feeding. However, significantly more mouth opening before contacts to the mouth than those to the face occurred before but not after feeding. It was suggested that HM coordination was linked to feeding, but because of involuntary general movements infants might not be able to determine the final location of a movement. However, they are able to predict where a movement will land and anticipate this, if motivated to do so.