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Spatio-temporal constraints on upright children's coordination when hitting a moving target
Florence Rosey1, Jean Keller, Eveline Golomer
1Laboratoire Action, Motricité, Adaptation, JE 2378, UFR STAPS, Université René Descartes Paris 5, 1 rue Lacretelle, 75015 Paris, France. florence.rosey@wanadoo.fr
Insights
Children aged three adapt their hitting movements based on ball drop height. They use a de-synchronized pattern for higher drops and a synchronized pattern for lower drops, showing functional joint adaptation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental motor control
- Biomechanics
- Childhood movement patterns
Background:
- Understanding how children develop motor skills is crucial for developmental psychology and pediatric physical therapy.
- Interceptive tasks, like hitting a ball, require precise coordination of multiple body joints.
- Previous research has explored motor learning in children, but the specific impact of spatio-temporal constraints on joint coordination in young children remains less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of spatial and temporal context on the joint coordination patterns of children under five during upright interceptive tasks.
- To identify distinct movement strategies employed by young children when facing varying levels of temporal pressure in a ball-hitting task.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a controlled experimental setup where 3-year-old children hit a ball dropped from five different heights (1.5m to 3.5m) to manipulate drop time.
- Employed cinematic analysis to meticulously track the initiation timing of key joint movements, including the foot, knee, hip, shoulder, and hand.
- Analyzed the sequence and synchronicity of joint activations to differentiate coordination patterns.
Main Results:
- Observed two distinct joint coordination patterns in 3-year-olds based on the ball's drop height.
- A 'de-synchronized' pattern emerged for higher drops (≥2m), characterized by the foot initiating movement first and the hand last.
- A 'synchronized' pattern was evident at the lowest height (1.5m), where all joints moved nearly simultaneously due to significant temporal pressure.
Conclusions:
- Children as young as three demonstrate functional adaptation in their body joint coordination in response to spatio-temporal constraints.
- The observed shift between de-synchronized and synchronized patterns highlights a flexible motor control strategy in young children.
- These findings provide insights into the developmental trajectory of anticipatory and reactive movement control in childhood.
Abstract:
To determine if the spatial and/or temporal context affected the coordination patterns of children under five in upright interceptive tasks, 3-year-olds hit a ball dropped from a ramp from five heights (1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, and 3.5 m) to control drop time. We studied the initiation time of hitting a ball with a cinematic analysis of the different joint movements (foot, knee, hip, shoulder, and hand). Two patterns of joint coordination were observed according to the rolling height of the ball: a de-synchronized pattern for heights of 2 m or above where the foot was the first to move and the hand the last, and a "synchronized" pattern, for the lowest height (1.5 m) where all joints started moving at the same time due to a strong temporal pressure. These two coordination patterns highlight a functional adaptation of body joints according to the spatio-temporal constraints among children from the age of three.
