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The development of end- and beginning-state comfort in a cup manipulation task
Sara M Scharoun1, Pamela J Bryden
1Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1; Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. sscharou@uwaterloo.ca.
Abstract:
End-state comfort (ESC) is the tendency to assume comfortable postures at the end of simple object manipulation rather than at the start; and therefore has been used to assess the behavioral effects of motor planning. Adult-like patterns have been observed at age 9. Observations can extend to joint-action, such that adults consider the beginning-state comfort (BSC) of another, without sacrificing ESC; however, trends in children have yet to be delineated. This study investigated the development of ESC and BSC in a cup manipulation task. Three to 12-year-olds and adults were asked to pick up a cup and (1) pour a glass of water or (2) pass it to the researcher to pour. Paralleling previous findings, adult-like patterns of ESC were observed at age 9. Adding to the literature, adult-like evidence of BSC emerged at the age of 7. Therefore, 7-year-olds consider another's BSC; however, cannot facilitate ESC until age 9.
