Why do infants flail their arms?
I've noticed that with most infants (say, around 6 months old, give or take), when presented with an object, there are 3 main things that they'll do with it:
look at it
put it in their mouth
hold it in their hand(s) and stiffly jerk their arm(s) up and down (banging the object on whatever's in front of them)
It's this third behavior that I'm curious about. Why do they do this? (I imagine that the stiff, straight arm and jerky, banging movements come from a lack of fine motor control, but I still don't see what the ultimate goal is.)
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They are determining some of the properties of the object:
can I lift it?
how much does it weigh?
is it soft or hard?
what kind of noise does it make when shaken, or when banged against something?
it is symmetrical, or is one end heavier than the other?
what do my parents feel about my doing this with it?
The banging may be accidental - you give them something when they're sitting in a high chair, it will get banged against the tray - or part of the exploration. Babies have a limited set of "tests" they can run, but the three bullets in your question cover most of the senses and provide plenty of information about the new thing.
Generally, babies want to learn about everything they interact with. But if some of the tests delight them - the item feels good, tastes good, makes a fun sound - then they will repeat that action with that item and we say they are now playing with it - and we generally approve.
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