PubMed · 8476304
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K N Dietrich. Lead and child development.. https://doi.org/10.1080/00039896.1993.9938406
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Nine young infants were followed longitudinally from 4 to 15 months of age. They performed multi-joint reaching movements to a stationary target presented at shoulder height. Time-position data of the hand, shoulder, and elbow were collected using an optoelectronic measurement system. In addition, we recorded electromyographic activity (EMG) from arm extensors and flexors. This paper documents how control problems of proximal torque generation may account for the segmented hand paths seen during early reaching. Our analysis revealed the following results: first, muscular impulse (integral of torque) increased significantly between the ages of 20 (reaching onset) and 64 weeks. That is, as infants got older they produced higher levels of mean muscular flexor torque during reaching. Data were normalized by body weight and movement time, so differences are not explained by anthropometric changes or systematic variations in movement time. Second, while adults produced solely flexor muscle torque to accomplish the task, infants generated flexor and extensor muscle torque at shoulder and elbow throughout a reach. At reaching onset more than half of the trials revealed this latter kinetic profile. Its frequency declined systematically as infants got older. Third, we examined the pattern of muscle coordination in those trials that exhibited elbow extensor muscle torque. We found that during elbow extension coactivation of flexor and extensor muscles was the predominant pattern in 67% of the trials. This pattern was notably absent in comparable adult reaching movements. Fourth, fluctuations in force generation, as measured by the rate of change of total torque (NET) and muscular torque (MUS), were more frequent in early reaching (20-28 weeks) than in the older cohort (52-64 weeks), indicating that muscular torque production became increasingly smoother and task-efficient. Our data demonstrate that young infants have problems in generating smooth profiles of proximal joint torques. One possible reason for this imprecision in infant force control is their inexperience in predicting the magnitude and direction of external forces. That infants learned to consider external forces is documented by their increasing reliance on these forces when performing voluntary elbow extensions. The patterns of muscle coordination underlying active elbow extensions were basically the same as during the prereaching phase, indicating that the formation of functional synergies is based on a basal repertoire of innervation patterns already observable in very early, spontaneous movements.
The purpose of this study was to examine effects of experience with a postural task on components of the automatic postural response including: (1) probability of activation of functionally appropriate postural muscles; (2) number of functionally appropriate postural muscles activated; and (3) onset latencies of functionally appropriate postural muscles in infants. Infants (n=15; age 36-48 weeks old) able to pull themselves into a standing position but not able to walk independently were tested using a postural task requiring the infant to stand and balance, with support, following a forward or backward movement of the support surface (platform perturbation). Infants were tested twice at 5-day intervals. One-half of the infants, the training group, were given intense platform perturbation training on the days between test sessions. Infants in the second group were also brought into the laboratory on the days between test sessions but were not exposed to platform perturbations during those days. Electromyograms of six leg and trunk muscles were recorded during test sessions to provide muscle onset latencies, probability of muscle activation data, and the number of postural muscles activated following a perturbation. Training infants demonstrated significant increases in probability of activating functionally appropriate muscles with tibialis anterior, quadriceps, and abdominal muscles activated in response to backward sway and gastrocnemius muscle in response to forward sway. The number of functionally appropriate postural muscles activated in a single trial also increased in the training group. There were no significant changes in mean postural muscle onset latencies or number of trials with antagonist muscle coactivation for either training or control groups. These findings suggest that during development selective parameters of the automatic postural response are affected by experience with the postural task.