Shifting patterns of bilateral coordination and lateral dominance in the leg movements of young infants

Thelen, Esther; Ridley‐Johnson, Robyn; Fisher, Donna M.

doi:10.1002/dev.420160105

Cited by 90 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…This idea is supported by previous studies indicating that accurate coordination of muscle forces with intersegmental and environmental forces is dependent on proprioceptive information Sainburg et al 1993Sainburg et al , 1995 and learning (Lackner and Dizio 1994;Sainburg et al 1999;Shadmehr and Mussa-Ivaldi 1994) and that such coordination develops over the first few years of life (Thelen et al 1983(Thelen et al , 1993Zernicke and Schneider 1993). According to this point of view, the interlimb differences in dynamic control studied here may arise secondary to asymmetrical experience with each arm.…”

Section: Dominant Arm Specialization For Control Of Limb Dynamicssupporting

confidence: 87%

Handedness: Dominant Arm Advantages in Control of Limb Dynamics

Bagesteiro

Sainburg²

2002

Journal of Neurophysiology

338

262

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Bagesteiro, Leia B. and Robert L. Sainburg. Handedness: dominant arm advantages in control of limb dynamics. J Neurophysiol 88: 2408 -2421, 2002; 10.1152/jn.00901.2001. Recent findings from our laboratory suggest that a major factor distinguishing dominant from nondominant arm performance is the ability by which the effects of intersegmental dynamics are controlled by the CNS. These studies indicated that the dominant arm reliably used more torque-efficient patterns for movements made with similar speeds and accuracy than nondominant arm movements. Whereas, nondominant hand-path curvatures systematically varied with the amplitude of the interaction torques transferred between the segments of the moving limb, dominant hand-path curvatures did not. However, our previous studies did not distinguish whether dominant arm coordination advantages emerged from more effective control of dynamic factors or were simply a secondary effect of planning different kinematics. The purpose of this study was to further investigate interlimb differences in coordination through analysis of inverse dynamics and electromyography recorded during the performance of reaching movements. By controlling the amplitude of intersegmental dynamics in the current study, we were able to assess whether systematic differences in torque-efficiency exist, even when differences in hand-path shape were minimal. Subject's arms were supported in the horizontal plane by a frictionless air-jet system and were constrained to movements about the shoulder and elbow joints. Two targets were designed, such that the interaction torques elicited at the elbow were either large or small. Our results showed that the former produced large differences in hand-path curvature, whereas the latter did not. Additionally, the movements with small differences in hand-path kinematics showed substantial differences in torque patterns and corresponding EMG profiles which implied a more torque-efficient strategy for the dominant arm. In view of these findings we propose that distinct neural control mechanisms are employed for dominant and nondominant arm movements. I N T R O D U C T I O NHandedness, the tendency to prefer the use of a consistent hand in performing selected tasks, is a prominent, yet poorly understood aspect of human motor performance. Whereas it is generally accepted that handedness results from differences in the neural control of each arm, the mechanisms responsible for these differences remain controversial. Previous studies examining handedness have quantified the reaction time, movement time, and final position accuracy of rapid aimed arm movements. Such performance measures were expected to differentiate "open-loop" mechanisms, which by definition are unaffected by sensory feedback, from "closed-loop" mechanisms, which by definition are mediated by sensory feedback. This division was inspired by the ideas of Woodworth (Woodworth 1899) and Fitts (Fitts 1966(Fitts , 1992Fitts and Radford 1966) and is supported by studies contrasting rapid aiming movements ma...

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Section: Dominant Arm Specialization For Control Of Limb Dynamicssupporting

confidence: 87%

Handedness: Dominant Arm Advantages in Control of Limb Dynamics

Bagesteiro

Sainburg²

2002

Journal of Neurophysiology

338

262

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Nearly a year before the onset of locomotion and long in advance of voluntary control, newborn infants show well-articulated alternations between the legs in supine as well as in erect positions (Thelen, Ridley-Johnson, & Fisher, 1983). In the months following, the "stepping movements" can no longer be elicited in an erect position.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Spontaneous kicking behavior in infants: Age-related effects of unilateral weighting

Vaal¹,

Soest²,

Hopkins³

2000

Dev. Psychobiol.

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“…9 Interlimb coordination was measured by frequency (expressed as a percentage) of alternate, unilateral, and synchronous kicking patterns during the 20-second period. 14 An alternate kick was defined as simultaneous flexion of one lower extremity and extension of the other lower extremity, with the flexion phase of the 2 limbs overlapping for less than 50% of the movement. A unilateral kick was defined as isolated flexion and extension of one lower extremity while the other lower extremity was in the intra-kick pause phase or the inter-kick pause phase.…”

Section: Instrument and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…13 Thelen and colleagues [13][14][15][16][17] conducted a series of follow-up studies on full-term infants to examine their early kicking movements and relate those movements to the walking ability they later developed. Infants exhibited patterns of kicking movements during their newborn period that have high interjoint coordination (indicated by high pair-wise cross-correlations of joint angles at the hip, knee, and ankle), small phase lags (indicated by small differences between the times at which the joints started moving or reached peak excursion), and constrained movement durations (indicated by invariant durations in the flexion and extension phases).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Kinematic Analysis of Kicking Movements in Preterm Infants With Very Low Birth Weight and Full-Term Infants

2002

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Background and Purpose. Study of kicking development provides important information to understand how early spontaneous movements change in infants as they acquire voluntary control. Researchers have investigated the kicking movements of preterm infants; however, the movement patterns that they have described were inconsistent. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the development of kicking movements with kinematic analysis in preterm infants with very low birth weight (VLBW) and full-term infants. Subjects and Methods. Twenty-two infants with VLBW who were divided into low gestational age (gestational age of Ͻ30 weeks, nϭ9) and high gestational age (gestational age of Ն30 weeks, nϭ13) classes and 22 full-term infants were evaluated during kicking movements using 4 synchronized cameras and 3-dimensional kinematic analysis when the infants were 2 and 4 months of corrected age. Results. The infants with VLBW and a high gestational age showed similar kicking movements compared with the full-term infants. In contrast, the infants with VLBW and a low gestational age exhibited a higher kick frequency and a shorter flexion phase at 4 months of corrected age. They also exhibited a higher hip-knee correlation and lower variability in the interlimb coordination pattern at 2 and 4 months of corrected age. Discussion and Conclusion. The findings indicate that infants with VLBW, particularly those with a low gestational age, have age-related differences in movement organization and coordination of kicking compared with full-term infants. [Jeng SF, Chen LC, Yau KIT. Kinematic analysis of kicking movements in preterm infants with very low birth weight and full-term infants. Phys Ther. 2002;82:148 -159.]

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Shifting patterns of bilateral coordination and lateral dominance in the leg movements of young infants

Cited by 90 publications

References 37 publications

Handedness: Dominant Arm Advantages in Control of Limb Dynamics

Handedness: Dominant Arm Advantages in Control of Limb Dynamics

Spontaneous kicking behavior in infants: Age-related effects of unilateral weighting

Kinematic Analysis of Kicking Movements in Preterm Infants With Very Low Birth Weight and Full-Term Infants

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