Week 11 motor development infancy and childhood Flashcards
What are the three approaches to motor development of infancy and childhood
Maturational - maturation of the neuromuscular system dictates development
Information processing - describes changes in terms of motor programs
Dynamical systems - describes development in terms of interaction of capabilities, environment and task
What is the size of baby brain at birth and at age 4
25% adult and 80% adult sized
What purpose do infant reflexes serve
Firstly infant reflexes are needed feeding reflexes (sucking and rooting) necessary and postural reflexes to keep baby in safe position.
Secondly early process of motor development is about overcoming (supressing) infant reflexes, process of learning to move intentionally rather than in response to stimuli
What is the A not B error phenomenon
A toy is hidden in box A within babies reach and the baby searches box A and finds toy. After a few goes all going in box A the toy is hidden inside box B. The baby still looks in box A (less than 12 months old)
What is the sandbox paradigm
Let the infant see the toy be buried in sad, and the baby will either dig where the toy was buried, where the infant last dug their toy and the centre of sandbox
What is muscle co-contraction?
When both agonist and antagonist muscles activate, this wastes a lot of energy. Muscle co-contraction increases with age.
What happens to the connective tissue in the elderly?
Contractile proteins can replace connective tissue, tendons also become stiffer. This results in muscle stiffness and ROM decrease.
What are the symptoms of Parkinson’s
Bradykinesia which is slowness of movement and difficulty in initiating movement
Tremor
Rigidity
Postural instablilty
What is Parkinson’s gait like
Shuffling movements, decrease arm swing, stooped posture and gait freezing
What is westphal phenomenon
Muscles will actively contract when presented with a sudden shortening
What are the symptoms of Huntington’s disease
Hyperkinesia, which is random jerky unintentional movements.
Rigidity
Abnormal posture
Difficult chewing, talking
Cognitive deficits (planning and thinking)
Anxiety and depression
Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease are caused by opposite problems (bradykinesia vs. hyperkinesia). Despite this, gait observed
in both diseases are very similar. Why might this be?
They both have a problem with balance. Even though they have different diseases, resolving balance is done in the same way. Their gate becomes slow and steady and have stiff movements, this is to help resolve the balance problems. This happens with all old people (aging) but with the disease it makes it harder.
