The infant brings the movements of his legs, arms, head, etc., gradually into some sort of order and system.

It is accomplished by a system of organic checks and counter-checks, by which associations are formed between muscular sensations on the one hand and certain other sensations, as of sight, touch, hearing, etc., on the other hand.

The latter serve as suggestions to the performance of these movements, and these alone.

The infant learns to balance his head and trunk, to direct his hands, to grasp with thumb opposite the four fingers--all largely by such control suggestions, aided, of course, by his native reflexes.
_Contrary Suggestion._--By this is meant a tendency of a very striking kind observable in many children, no less than in many adults, to do the contrary when any course is suggested.

The very word "contrary" is used in popular talk to describe an individual who shows this type of conduct.