When infants observe others’ goal-directed reaching actions, they map both the movement and the goal onto their motor representations (naturalised mental representation of such actions) that develop their motor experience. Infants’ mapping of observed actions to their own motor representations is facilitated by brief, but salient, visual experiences with these actions by others.

Babies often see something they would like to touch and hold but are hindered by unrefined muscles in their arms and hands. Expect newborns to swipe and swat. Grasping what they see happens only accidentally. With more practice, babies will be able to grab and hold onto an object.

Around six months, babies begin to look and touch things simultaneously. With practice, they refine this hand-eye coordination and gain dexterity in exploring objects and the environment.

When babies control small muscles in hands while performing simple tasks, they demonstrate the link between thought and action. Similarly, the types of grasps six-month-old infants perform predict their ability to differentiate others’ grasps.