Concurrences across time and sensorimotor capacities promote infant learning

In infancy, sensorimotor capacities directly impact learning. Although developmental science has studied the link between sensorimotor capacities and learning, this link has majorly focused on a narrow time-window connecting just two domains. Here, we propose that considering concurrences across multiple timepoints and multiple domains provides novel insights into how sensorimotor capacities systematically shape learning. We first present a developmental map synthesizing changes across the vision, motor, and language domains within the first 18 months. Using the map, we identify how changes in one sensorimotor domain affect learning in the extant literature. Importantly, we make salient additional concurrences remaining unexplored and providing rich ground to raise new questions and revisit old ones; we use a concrete example of learning (word-object mapping) to illustrate this point. Last, we end with a call to action to fill key gaps in the map by considering variations in other domains, cultures, and atypical development.