The relationship between visual task-demands and postural stability in infancy
Abstract
The development of independent upright stance is an important motor milestone. Infants have been shown to adapt sway in the context of their environment (Lee & Aronson, 1974; Butterworth & Hicks, 1977) and adapt postural sway during a manual concurrent task (Claxton, Melzer, Ryu, & Haddad, 2012; Karasik, Adolph, Tamis-LeMonda, & Zuckerman, 2012). However, it remains unknown as to whether infants will also adapt their standing postural sway under other types of concurrent tasks conditions, such as a visual task. We investigated the relationship of visual task-demands on postural sway in 21 newly independently standing infants. Infants stood on a force plate independently while viewing large and small images of animals displayed on a monitor. Three types of postural sway measures were calculated: amount of sway (AP-sway, ML-sway, area of sway), velocity of sway, and sway complexity. Infants displayed a marginally significant decrease in area of sway, along with a significant reduction in the velocity of sway when viewing the small image. Infants also exhibited a significant increase in sway complexity. These results suggest that infants not only engage in adaptive postural control strategies in order to facilitate manual concurrent task-demands, but to facilitate visual task-demands as well. The development of this skill further emphasizes the capability of advanced postural complex behaviors in infancy.
Degree
M.S.
Advisors
Claxton, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Psychobiology|Kinesiology
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