Motor Development

Question 1

Human development compared to other animals

Answer 1

• It’s super slow

Physically
- The cortex got bigger
- The pelvis got smaller
- The baby’s head will literally not fit after 38 weeks so we have to be born earlier
- Offset development to experience-expectant plasticity

Culturally
- Development based on experience-dependent plasticity
- Coming underdeveloped means that subsequent development can be shaped by in put to best work with environment surrounded

Question 2

Newborns

Answer 2

Not capable of much

• Prisoner of gravity

They have impressive reflexes
- Valuable to newborns themselves
- Crawling, rooting, sucking ,swallowing -> food
- Reflex tend to disappear after a few months
- Follow a U-shaped curve

Question 3

Dynamic Systems Theory

Answer 3

Any successful act requires the interaction of many things coming together in the right way

Developmental changes may reflect change in any component

Question 4

Reaching

Answer 4

Study has shown that babies earliest reachers (4-5 mos) are pretty good
- Messy, but they don’t reach in the wrong direction
- Babies reach earlier when posture supported

Development of Reach Adjustments
- Limited at first slow to adjust
- Eventually adjust based on what they plan to do with an object

Question 5

Tool Use

Answer 5

Requires means-ends actions - incorporating multiple steps into achieving a goal
- Usually using a tool, like a spoon or a rake
- Starts to develop around 9 months of age, but takes time to plan reaching action appropriately/ flexibly

Question 6

Crawling

Answer 6

Some never crawl at all (back sleeping)
- Many babies “belly crawl” first, before regular “hands-and-knees” crawling
- Experience is a better predictor of crawling/walking skill than age or limb size
- Babies’ motor skills are not all-or-nothing

Question 7

Experience

Answer 7

• Practice makes perfect
• Experience integrating perception and action
• The visual experience of moving through space: visual or optic flow: specifies the direction and speed of movement
• Active experience matters, not passive
• Active feedback essential for learning to move around in space

Question 8

The Visual Cliff

Answer 8

• Infants with 6 weeks crawling experience avoid the cliff, those with only 2 weeks cross
• Issues seems to be integrating perception and action
• Specific experience matters

Question 9

Motor Development

Answer 9

Some of it may be maturation

Experience really matters

Cultural variation
- North Americans tend to think motor development progresses largely on its own
- Not a universal belief

• West African massage & exercise leads to advances in motor development relative to babies in North America

Question 10

Cradling in Tajikistan

Answer 10

Leads to significant motor “delays”, though “caught up” by age 4 with no long-term repercussions