Specialization of the motor system in human infants: From broadly tuned to selectively specialized purposeful actions.

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D'Souza, Hana; Cowie, Dorothy; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette and Bremner, Andrew J.. 2016. Specialization of the motor system in human infants: From broadly tuned to selectively specialized purposeful actions. Developmental Science, 20(4), e12409. ISSN 1363-755X [Article]

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12409

Abstract or Description

In executing purposeful actions, adults select sufficient and necessary limbs. But infants often move goal-irrelevant limbs, suggesting a developmental process of motor specialization. Two experiments with 9- and 12-month-olds revealed gradual decreases in extraneous movements in non-acting limbs during unimanual actions. In Experiment 1, 9-month-olds produced more extraneous movements in the non-acting hand/arm and feet/legs than 12 month-olds. In Experiment 2, analysis of the spatiotemporal dynamics of infants’ movements revealed developmental declines in the spatiotemporal coupling of movements between acting and non acting hands/arms. We also showed that the degree of specialization in infants’ unimanual actions is associated with individual differences in motor experience and visual attention, indicating the experience-dependent and broad functional nature of these developmental changes. Our study provides important new insights into motor development: as in cognitive domains, motor behaviours are initially broadly tuned to their goal, becoming progressively specialized during the first year of life.

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Article

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https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12409