The development of bimanual skill in children: The search for stable patterns of coordination
Abstract
Research has demonstrated stable patterns of bimanual coordination in adults. However, instability in children's bimanual coordination has been observed. The present experiments were designed to begin to describe the developmental time course of this instability in children's bimanual coordination. In Experiment 1, six age groups of 4-, 6-, 7-, 8-, 10-year-old children and adults produced unimanual dominant, unimanual nondominant, and bimanual circles. All tasks were performed at the preferred rate, size, and mode of coordination. Overall, children produced larger circles with longer durations than adults. Children were less stable in coordination. They spent more time in an intermediate phase of coordination, had a higher standard deviation in between-hand relative phase, and produced more transitions between stable coordination patterns than adults. The greatest differences in coordination occurred between four- and six-year old children. In Experiment 2, the same subjects were used. Bimanual circles were produced at increasing rates. Circle shape deteriorated as speed increased. Overall, the number of transitions decreased as speed increased. This result was most evident in the 4-year-old children. Descriptive analysis indicated that attention and speed are potential variables to explain the less stable coordination at age four.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Zelaznik, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Cellular biology
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