How do children coordinate simultaneous upper and lower extremity tasks? The development of dual motor task coordination.

Full Abstract

When performing simultaneous clapping with walking or galloping, adults adopt coupled, consistent and stable dual motor task coordination; do developmental trends in this coordination exist? In this study, we measured and compared coupling characteristics, consistency across trials and variability of phasing in 4-, 6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds (n=44) as they also performed the same dual motor task. For walk/clap, children adopted specific coupling patterns like adults by 8 years and with the same consistency by 10 years. Across age, children became less variable in clap and step movements separately and as coupled together. In the gallop/clap, children did not resemble adults in coupling patterns by 10 years but all measures were becoming more consistent across age. We discuss dual motor task coordination as a function of age and task complexity using a "dynamic" perspective within a developmental context.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Getchell, Nancy (N); Whitall, Jill (J);

Affiliation: Department of Health and Exercise Sciences, University of Delaware, 141 Human Performance Laboratory, Newark, DE 19716, USA. getchell(-atsign-)udel.edu

Grants: R29 HD28157 (Agency:United States NICHD)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of experimental child psychology (J Exp Child Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jun; vol 85 (issue 2) : pp 120-40

Dates: Created 2003/06/11; Completed 2003/10/29; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12799165, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.