Motor Development Flashcards
What is DST
Stands for Dynamic Systems Theory.
Focuses on how behaviour changes over time.
Emphasises multiple components interacting for a single change.
According to DST , what is motor development caused by?
Increased strength and weight
Neural mechanisms
Posture control
Balance
Perceptual skills
Motivation
What are the major milestones for when babies are born until 5 months?
Stepping reflex
Mini pushups during tummy time
Bounce when held upright
What are the major milestones for babies 6-10 months old?
Sit up
Crawl
Stand w/ support
Cruise
What are the major milestones for when babies 9-15 months old?
Pull to stand
Stand unsupported
Take first steps
What are the major milestones for when babies 16-18 months old?
Dance
Climb stairs w/ help
Walk backwards
What are the major milestones for when babies 2yrs old?
Run
Kick ball
Jump from low step
What are attractors?
Stable, predictive bhvrs
How do children arrive at milestones?
Variable different routes = caused through lots of experimentation, curiosity and learning which was not previously emphasised in research.
What are the consequences of different measures of development?
It can affect literature bc it will show different patterns of development
Example:
Adolph et al’s longitudinal study (2008) = tested if children could sit independently for 3 seconds everyday. Infant 11 was consistent in showing the bhvr. Infant 7 was not.
Shows motor development is an ongoing process, doesn’t turn on.
What are fine motor skills?
Uses smaller muscles. Used for object manipulation, drawing and grasping.
What is gross motor skills
Uses larger muscles. Used for sitting, reaching, crawling, walking and running.
What is the stepping reflex?
Coordinated bhvr resembling walking.
It has alternating leg movements and disappears at 2 months.
Not due to neurological maturity because they can do the same bhvr when they are lying down (due to distributed gravitational pull).
Why does the stepping reflex disappear at 2 months?
Infants rapid weight gain in first few week makes their legs heavier + faster then stronger
What is the importance of sitting independently?
Leads to new opportunities for exploring + exploring shape and visual perception.
Spencer et al. (2000) = sitting independently helps reaching
Ross-Sheehy et al, (2016) = sitting independently domino effect on infant perception
What is figure/ ground assignment?
The ability to distinguish objects from the background. This is used to understand depth and plan reaching.
What do adults use to distinguish figure/ground
Symmetry
Convexity (curvature)
Lower region
Why do infants need figure/ground segregation
Infants use it to guide attention, eye-movements and learning
What happened in Ross-Sheehy et al.’s (2016) figure/ground assignment study?
Showed two pictures to 6mths infants. There was 2 cues to figure out = motion and symmetry.
Both screens = motion (both in front/ both behind) - a diff. in symmetry
Consistent F/G cues = symmetrical moves in front + asymmetrical behind
Inconsistent F/G cues = asymmetrical moves in front + symmetrical moves behind
Sit up kids = preferred symmetrical bc it mirrored what they had learned.
Other group = no preference. Significant preferences showed infants perceive symmetry as a cue for F/G assignment.
What is reaching and grasping?
Stretching w/ one/ both hands towards something to touch/grasp it.
Normally starts as swiping gestures until independent sitting = stable and precise.
Increased anticipation = experience with reaching and grasping increases.
What is soft assembly reaching?
Argues all components = need to ‘assemble’ for a successful reach + infants bhvr.
Made of many components
- locate the goal
- stable base
- control arm extension.
The successful reach = environment, not genes/brain.
Variability in reaching = good + not a fixed sequence.
Why were sticky mittens made?
Researchers devised several methods to try + help kids learn how to reach so they can understand how they do it.
What are sticky mittens?
Mittens that have velcro + help children who can’t reach make contact w/ objects. Parents are asked to have a sticky mitten time, 10 mins/ day for 2 weeks.
What are the strengths of sticky mittens?
Libertus and Needham (2010) = after one week w/ these toys, they reached significantly more often than their peers
Libertus, Joh and Needham (2016) = effects persist for 12 months
What is counter research against sticky mittens?
Williams, Corbetta and Guam (2015) showed kids w/out sticky mittens had a higher performance
What is the ‘A, not B’ task?
Created by Piaget to test 8-10mths infants’ representation. Researcher hide toy at A and the infant finds it (6x), then they hide it at B, the infant looks for it at A.
What were the findings of the ‘A, not B’ task?
Infants don’t have object permanence until ~ 10mths
How is bhvr described in relation to the ‘A, not B’ task?
Bhvr is a product of past history, just previous past + present called nested timescales
The error is a result of previous attention to A + practise reaching to A. DST suggests attractors, motor memory and preservation is included.
Why would errors persist in the ‘A, not B’ task?
There is no reaching on A
There are no objects = wave lids only
Unmarked locations (sandbox) in 2-4yrs
Long delays = even in adults in spaceship task
If you change posture between trials, errors are reduced (less reliant on motor memory)
What is self-locomotion?
~8mths infants can crawl
~ 13-14 months = walking independently (toddling gait)
What does Adolph (1997) study do?
Tracked infants in a weekly longitudinal study from early crawling to proficient walking. They changed the degree of the slope.
What does Adolph (1997) research show?
Shows motor skills are context-dependent.
Knowledge doesn’t transfer from crawling to walking
A process of being fearless and getting hurt, to accurate and precise.
What did Han and Adolph study do (2020)
Observed 138 toddlers who fell over 500 times whilst playing
What were the findings of Han and Adolph (2020)
Falling didn’t change next bhvr of children = average of 1.84s in returning to previous bhvr
infants rarely fussed abt falling over = only 4%
caregivers rarely concerned about falling over = only 8%
Impact was not bad bc small body size + infants’ quick reactive bhvrs e.g bracing w/ hands
What did O’Neal et al. (2018) do?
Used children 5-14 and made them do a road crossing simulation w/ CGI
What were the results of O’Neal et al. (2018) study?
Children 5-14 years old = ↑ rate of pedestrian injuries than any other age groups
6-10yr = ↑ slower than older children + adults to enter a road + ↑ willing to enter
What did O’Neal et al. (2019) do?
Repeated their 2018 study but w/ friends.
Pairs of friends cross a VR road 30x (50% left/right)
Stream of traffic from the left ~40kmh (25mph)
Traffic included random 2s-5s gaps
No instructions to cross together/ alone
They could wait as long as they wanted to
What were the results of O’Neal et al. study (2019)?
Peers = risk to road safety + adolescents took riskier gaps w/ a friends than alone
To compensate for short gaps = entered + crossed faster
When solo, first crossers = ↑ risky
12 yo first crossers riskier than adults
What does Oxley et al. (2012) show?
Most child pedestrians injuries happen at mid-blocks
What does Bennet and Yiannakoulias (2015) show?
Shorted path to school often requires mid-block
How does Liberty’s and Violi (2016) show motor experience is related to language?
Emergence of sitting correlates w/ vocal at 10-14mths
How does Walle and Campos (2014) show motor experience is related to language?
Emergence of walking correlates w/ respective + productive vocabulary
How does Clearfield et al. (2008) show motor experience is related to language?
Children = walk make more bids for communication to adults than same-age children who crawl
How does Pruitt and Morini (2021) show motor experience is related to language
6-12yrs remember new vocal better if they exercise after learning words
