Sitting infants alter the magnitude and structure of postural sway when performing a manual goal-directed task

ABSTRACT In typical daily life, adults routinely adapt posture so that balance can be maintained while other goal‐directed activities are performed. Interestingly, newly standing infants also control posture based on the demands of a task. It is unknown if the ability to properly adapt postural move...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental psychobiology 2014-09, Vol.56 (6), p.1416-1422
Main Authors: Claxton, Laura J., Strasser, Jennifer M., Leung, Elise J., Ryu, Joong Hyun, O'Brien, Kathleen M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attention - physiology
Female
Goals
Humans
infancy
Infant
Male
Movement - physiology
Play and Playthings
Postural Balance - physiology
Posture - physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
sitting postural control
stability
supra-postural tasks
task-demands
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Summary:ABSTRACT In typical daily life, adults routinely adapt posture so that balance can be maintained while other goal‐directed activities are performed. Interestingly, newly standing infants also control posture based on the demands of a task. It is unknown if the ability to properly adapt postural movements as a goal‐directed task is performed emerges soon after the acquisition of independent stance or if it is present at earlier key postural milestones, such as independent sitting. In this study, the postural sway patterns of independently sitting infants were compared while either holding or not holding a toy. Infants exhibited less postural sway when holding the toy. This reduction in sway allowed infants to look at and stabilize the toy in their hand. Thus, the ability to adjust postural movements while performing a concurrent goal‐directed task emerges long before the acquisition of independent stance. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 56: 1416–1422, 2014.
ISSN:0012-1630
1098-2302
DOI:10.1002/dev.21211