How infants use vision for grasping objects

The role of vision was examined as infants prepared to grasp horizontally a nd vertically oriented rods. Hand orientation was measured prior to contact to determine if infants differentially oriented their hands relative to th e objects orientation. Infants reached for rods under different lighting co nditions. Three experiments are reported in which (1) sight of the hand was removed (N = 12), (2) sight of the object was removed near the end of the reach (N = 40, including 10 adults), and (3) sight of the object was remove d prior to reach onset (N = 9). Infants differentially oriented their hand to a similar extent regardless of lighting condition and similar to control conditions in which they could see the rod and hand throughout the reach. In preparation for reaching, infants may use the current sight of the objec t's orientation, or the memory of it, to orient the hand for grasping; sigh t of the hand had no effect on hand orientation.