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Franchak JM, Adolph KE. An update of the development of motor behavior. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2024:e1682. [PMID: 38831670 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1682] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 03/31/2024] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024]
Abstract
This primer describes research on the development of motor behavior. We focus on infancy when basic action systems are acquired-posture, locomotion, manual actions, and facial actions-and we adopt a developmental systems perspective to understand the causes and consequences of developmental change. Experience facilitates improvements in motor behavior and infants accumulate immense amounts of varied everyday experience with all the basic action systems. At every point in development, perception guides behavior by providing feedback about the results of just prior movements and information about what to do next. Across development, new motor behaviors provide new inputs for perception. Thus, motor development opens up new opportunities for acquiring knowledge and acting on the world, instigating cascades of developmental changes in perceptual, cognitive, and social domains. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development Psychology > Motor Skill and Performance Neuroscience > Development.
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Affiliation(s)
- John M Franchak
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
| | - Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, USA
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The Relationship between Crawling and Emotion Discrimination in 9- to 10-Month-Old Infants. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12040479. [PMID: 35448010 PMCID: PMC9029591 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12040479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The present study examined whether infants’ crawling experience is related to their sensitivity to fearful emotional expressions. Twenty-nine 9- to 10-month-old infants were tested in a preferential looking task, in which they were presented with different pairs of animated faces on a screen displaying a 100% happy facial expression and morphed facial expressions containing varying degrees of fear and happiness. Regardless of their crawling experiences, all infants looked longer at more fearful faces. Additionally, infants with at least 6 weeks of crawling experience needed lower levels of fearfulness in the morphs in order to detect a change from a happy to a fearful face compared to those with less crawling experience. Thus, the crawling experience seems to increase infants’ sensitivity to fearfulness in faces.
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Burnay C, Button C, Cordovil R, Anderson DI, Croft JL. Do infants avoid a traversable slope leading into deep water? Dev Psychobiol 2021; 63:e22169. [PMID: 34333768 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Ramps used to access swimming pools are designed with a shallow slope that affords easy access for all including infants. Locomotor experience has been linked to infants' avoidance of falling into the water from drop-offs; however, the effect of such experience on infants' behavior when a slope is offered to access the water has not been addressed. Forty-three crawling infants (Mage = 10.63 ± 1.91 months; Mcrawling = 2.38 ± 1.77 months) and 34 walking infants (Mage = 14.90 ± 2.18 months; Mwalking = 2.59 ± 1.56 months) were tested on a new Water Slope paradigm, a sloped surface (10°) leading to deep water. No association between infants' avoidance of submersion and locomotor experience was found. Comparison with the results of infants' behavior on the water cliff revealed that a greater proportion of infants reached the submersion point on the water slope than fell into the water cliff. Collectively, these results indicate a high degree of specificity in which locomotor experience teaches infants about risky situations. Importantly, sloped access to deep water appears to increase the risk of infants moving into the water thereby making them more vulnerable to drowning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina Burnay
- School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.,Centre of Exercise and Sports Science Research, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
| | - Chris Button
- School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Rita Cordovil
- CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Cruz Quebrada Dafundo, Portugal
| | - David I Anderson
- Marian Wright Edelman Institute, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - James L Croft
- Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Abstract
The ecological approach is a framework for studying the behavior of animals in their environments. My version of an ecological approach focuses on learning in the context of development. I argue that the most important thing animals learn is behavioral flexibility. They must acquire the ability to flexibly guide their behavior from moment to moment in the midst of developmental changes in their bodies, brains, skills, and environments. They must select, modify, and create behaviors appropriate to the current situation. In essence, animals must learn how to learn. I describe the central concepts and empirical strategies for studying learning in development and use examples of infants coping with novel tasks to give a flavor of what researchers know and still must discover about the functions and processes of learning (to learn) in (not and) development.
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Abstract
This review challenges the traditional interpretation of infants' and young children's responses to three types of potentially "fear-inducing" stimuli-snakes and spiders, heights, and strangers. The traditional account is that these stimuli are the objects of infants' earliest developing fears. We present evidence against the traditional account, and provide an alternative explanation of infants' behaviors toward each stimulus. Specifically, we propose that behaviors typically interpreted as "fearful" really reflect an array of stimulus-specific responses that are highly dependent on context, learning, and the perceptual features of the stimuli. We speculate about why researchers so commonly misinterpret these behaviors, and conclude with future directions for studying the development of fear in infants and young children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Infant motor skill predicts later expressive language and autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. Infant Behav Dev 2019; 54:37-47. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2018] [Revised: 11/18/2018] [Accepted: 11/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Abstract
Motor development and psychological development are fundamentally related, but researchers typically consider them separately. In this review, we present four key features of infant motor development and show that motor skill acquisition both requires and reflects basic psychological functions. ( a) Motor development is embodied: Opportunities for action depend on the current status of the body. ( b) Motor development is embedded: Variations in the environment create and constrain possibilities for action. ( c) Motor development is enculturated: Social and cultural influences shape motor behaviors. ( d) Motor development is enabling: New motor skills create new opportunities for exploration and learning that instigate cascades of development across diverse psychological domains. For each of these key features, we show that changes in infants' bodies, environments, and experiences entail behavioral flexibility and are thus essential to psychology. Moreover, we suggest that motor development is an ideal model system for the study of psychological development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA;
| | - Justine E Hoch
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA;
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Adolph KE, Hoch JE, Cole WG. Development (of Walking): 15 Suggestions. Trends Cogn Sci 2018; 22:699-711. [PMID: 30032744 PMCID: PMC6145857 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Revised: 05/02/2018] [Accepted: 05/28/2018] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Although a fundamental goal of developmental science is to identify general processes of change, developmental scientists rarely generalize beyond their specific content domains. As a first step toward a more unified approach to development, we offer 15 suggestions gleaned from a century of research on infant walking. These suggestions collectively address the multi-leveled nature of change processes, cascades of real-time and developmental events, the diversity of developmental trajectories, inter- and intraindividual variability, starting and ending points of development, the natural input for learning, and the roles of body, environment, and sociocultural context. We argue that these 15 suggestions are not limited to motor development, and we encourage researchers to consider them within their own areas of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen E Adolph
- Psychology Department, 4 Washington Place, Room 415, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
| | - Justine E Hoch
- Psychology Department, 4 Washington Place, Room 415, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - Whitney G Cole
- Psychology Department, 4 Washington Place, Room 415, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
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Nelson EL, Gonzalez SL, Coxe S, Campbell JM, Marcinowski EC, Michel GF. Toddler hand preference trajectories predict 3-year language outcome. Dev Psychobiol 2017; 59:876-887. [PMID: 28888047 PMCID: PMC5630522 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2017] [Accepted: 07/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
A growing body of work suggests that early motor experience affects development in unexpected domains. In the current study, children's hand preference for role-differentiated bimanual manipulation (RDBM) was measured at monthly intervals from 18 to 24 months of age (N = 90). At 3 years of age, children's language ability was assessed using the Preschool Language Scales 5th edition (PLS™-5). Three distinct RDBM hand preference trajectories were identified using latent class growth analysis: (1) children with a left hand preference but a moderate amount of right hand use; (2) children with a right hand preference but a moderate amount of left hand use; and (3) children with a right hand preference and only a mild amount of left hand use. Stability over time within all three trajectories indicated that children did not change hand use patterns from 18 to 24 months. Children with the greatest amount of preferred (i.e., right) hand use demonstrated higher expressive language scores compared to children in both trajectories with moderate levels of non-preferred hand use. Children with the greatest amount of right hand use also had higher scores for receptive language compared to children with a right hand preference but moderate left hand use. Results support that consistency in handedness as measured by the amount of preferred hand use is related to distal language outcomes in development.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Stefany Coxe
- Department of Psychology, Florida International University
| | | | | | - George F. Michel
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
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Adolph KE, Franchak JM. The development of motor behavior. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2017; 8:10.1002/wcs.1430. [PMID: 27906517 PMCID: PMC5182199 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2016] [Revised: 10/10/2016] [Accepted: 10/14/2016] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
This article reviews research on the development of motor behavior from a developmental systems perspective. We focus on infancy when basic action systems are acquired. Posture provides a stable base for locomotion, manual actions, and facial actions. Experience facilitates improvements in motor behavior and infants accumulate immense amounts of experience with all of their basic action systems. At every point in development, perception guides motor behavior by providing feedback about the results of just prior movements and information about what to do next. Reciprocally, the development of motor behavior provides fodder for perception. More generally, motor development brings about new opportunities for acquiring knowledge about the world, and burgeoning motor skills can instigate cascades of developmental changes in perceptual, cognitive, and social domains. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1430. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1430 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen E Adolph
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - John M Franchak
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
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