An operant conditioning procedure in which infants aged between 2- and 6-months learn to kick a foot in order to produce movement in an overhead mobile (see video for a depiction of the procedure). Stemming from an ongoing program of research on infant learning and memory carried out by Carolyn Rovee-Collier and colleagues since the 1960s, it is one of two operant conditioning paradigms devised by them, the other being the operant train task. The infant discovers the contingency between the kicking movements and the reinforcement (movement of the mobile). While infants all ages for which the mobile procedure is used learn the contingency during the first training session, there are age differences in the speed of acquisition: 2-month-olds do so within the first 4-6 minutes, 3-month-olds within 1 minute, while those aged 6 months learn the contingency within the first minute of the session. Studies have demonstrated impressive long-term retention of the association (months rather than weeks).
See Operant (or instrumental) conditioning, Operant train task, Recall, Recall memory, Reinforcement schedule, Reinforcer, Sensoty, short-term (STM) and long-term (LTM) memory