The study of how infants and children come to control their bodies is perhaps the
oldest topic in scientific developmental psychology. Yet, for many years the study
of motor development lay dormant. In the last two decades, however, there has been
an enormous resurgence of interest. As at the time of the very beginnings of our
field, the contemporary study of motor development is contributing both empirically
and theoretically to the larger questions in development and especially to our
understanding of developmental change. In this essay, I trace the course of the
changing fortunes of motor development, evaluate where we have been, what we are
doing, and speculate on some critical issues for the future. The purpose of this
essay is to comment on the general themes and influences that have been a part of
motor development’s “rise-fall-and-rise-again”
history. For a more comprehensive review of substantive topic areas in motor
development, readers are referred to the authoritative treatment recently published
by Bertenthal and Clifton (1998) and to the excellent monograph by Goldfield (1995).
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adolph, K.E.
(1997).
Learning in the development of infant locomotion
. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
62 (3, Serial No.251).
2.
Adolph, K.E.
, &
Avolio, A.M.
(2000).
Walking infants adapt locomotion to changing body dimensions
. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and
Performance, 26,
1148–1166
.
3.
Adolph, K.E.
,
Vereijken, B.
, &
Denny, M.A.
(1998).
Roles of variability and experience in development of crawling
. Child Development, 69,
1299–1312
.
4.
Almassy, N.
,
Edelman, G.M.
,
&Sporns, O.
(1998).
Behavioral constraints in the development of neuronal properties: A
cortical model embedded in a real world device
. Cerebral Cortex, 8,
346–361
.
5.
Angulo-Kinzler, R.M.
,
Ulrich, B.D.
,
Chapman, D.
, &
Thelen, E.
(2000). Context and control in the step patterns of newly
walking infants. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Bayley, N.
(1936).
The development of motor abilities during the first three years: Astudy of
sixty-one infants tested repeatedly
. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
1,
26–61
.
Bertenthal, B.I.
,
Boker, S.M.
, &
Rose, J.L.
(1995).
Dynamical analyses of postural development
. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 17,
8–8
.
12.
Bertenthal. B.I.
, &
Clifton, R.K.
(1998). Perception and action. In
W. Damon
(Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 2. Cognition, perception and
langauge (pp. 51–102).
New York: Wiley
.
13.
Bertenthal, B.I.
, &
Campos, J.J.
(1990). A systems approach to the organizing effects of
self-produced locomotion during infancy. In
C. Rovee-Collier
&
L.P. Lipsitt
(Eds.), Advances in infancy research (Vol. 6, pp.
1–60).
Norwood, NJ: Ablex
.
14.
Bertenthal, B.I.
,
Campos, J.J.
, &
Barrett, K.C.
(1984). Self-produced locomotion: An organizer of
emotional, cognitive, and social development in infancy. In
R. Emde
&
R. Harmon
(Eds.), Continuities and discontinuities in development (pp.
175–210).
New York: Plenum
.
15.
Berthier, N.E.
(1996).
Learning to reach: Amathematical model
. Developmental Psychology, 32,
811–823
.
16.
Breniere, Y.
,
Bril, B.
, &
Fontaine, R.
(1989).
Analysis of the transitions from upright stance to steady state locomotion
in children with under 200 days of autonomous walking
. Journal of Motor Behavior, 21,
20–37
.
17.
Bril, B.
,
&Breniere, Y.
(1992).
Postural requirements and progression velocity in young walkers
. Journal of Motor Behavior, 24,
105–116
.
18.
Bril, B.
, &
Sabatier, C.
(1986).
The cultural context of motor development: Postural manipulations in the
daily life of Bambara babies (Mali
). International Journal of Behavioral Development,
9,
439–453
.
19.
Bruner, J.S.
(1973).
Organization of early skilled action
. Child Development, 44,
1–11
.
20.
Burnside, L.H.
(1927).
Coordination in the locomotion of infants
. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 2,
279–372
.
21.
Bushnell, E.W.
, &
Boudreau, J.P.
(1993).
Motor development and the mind: The potential role of motor abilities as a
determinant of aspects of perceptual development
. Child Development, 64,
1005–1021
.
22.
Butterworth, G.
,
&Hicks, L.
(1977).
Visual proprioception and postural stability in infancy: Adevelopmental study
. Perception, 6,
255–262
.
23.
Campos, J.J.
,
Anderson, D.I.
,
Barbu-Roth, M.A.
,
Hubbard, E.M.
,
Hertenstein, M.J.
,
Witherington, D.
(2000).
Travel broadens the mind
. Infancy, 1,
149–219
.
24.
Clark, J.E.
, &
Phillips, S.J.
(1993).
A longitudinal study of interlimb coordination in the first year of
independent walking: A dynamical systems analysis
. Child Development, 64,
1143–1157
.
25.
Clifton, R.K.
,
Muir, D.
,
Ashmead, D.H.
, &
Clarkson, M.G.
(1993).
Is visually guided reaching in early infancy a myth?Child Development, 64,
1099–1110
.
26.
Coghill, G.E.
(1969). Anatomy and the problem of behavior.
New York: Macmillan
. (Original work published 1929)
27.
Darwin, C.
(1877).
Biographical sketch of an infant
. Mind, 2,
285–294
.
28.
Edelman, G.M.
(1987). Neural Darwinism: The theory of neuronal group
selection.
New York: Basic Books
.
29.
Edelman, G.M.
(1988). Topobiology: An introduction tomolecular
embryology.
New York: Basic Books
.
30.
Elman, J.L.
,
Bates, E.A.
,
Johnson, M.H.
,
Karmiloff-Smith, A.
,
Parisi, D.
, &
Plunkett, K.
(1996). Rethinking innateness: A connectionist perspective on
development.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
31.
Fitzpatrick, P.
,
Schmidt, R.C.
, &
Lockman, J.J.
(1996).
Dynamical patterns in the develompent of clapping
. Child Development, 67,
2691–2708
.
32.
Freedland, R.L.
, &
Bertenthal, B.I.
(1992).
Kinematic analyses of the development of creeping in human infants
. Infant Behavior and Development, 15, 300.
33.
Gesell, A.
(1928). Infancy and human growth.
New York: Macmillan
.
34.
Gesell, A.
(1933). Maturation and the patterning of
behavior. In
C. Murchison
(Ed.), A handbook of child psychology (2nd rev. ed., pp.
209–235).
Worcester, MA: Clark University Press
.
35.
Gesell, A.
(1940). The first five years of life.
New York: Harper
.
36.
Gesell, A.
(1946). The ontogenesis of infant behavior. In
L. Carmichael
(Ed.), Manual of child psychology (pp.
295–331).
New York: Wiley
.
37.
Gesell, A.
(1948). Studies in child develoment.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press
.
38.
Gesell, A.
, &
Thompson, H.
(1929).
Learning and growth in identical infant twins: An experimental study by the
method of co-twin control
. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 6,
1–124
.
39.
Gesell, A.
, &
Thompson, H.
(1934). Infant behavior: Its genesis and growth.
New York: McGraw-Hill
.
40.
Gesell, A.
,
&Thompson, H.
(1938). The psychology of early growth including norms of
behavior and a method of genetic analysis.
New York: Macmillan
.
41.
Gibson, E.J.
(1969). Principles of perceptual learning and
development.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
.
42.
Gibson, E.J.
(1988).
Exploratory behavior in the development of perceiving, acting and the
acquiring of knowledge
. Annual Review of Psychology, 39,
1–41
.
43.
Gibson, E.J.
,
Ricco, G.
,
Schmuckler, M.A.
,
Stoffregen, T.A.
,
Rosenberg, D.
, &
Taormina, J.
(1987).
Detection of the traversability of surfaces by crawling and walking infants
. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and
Performance, 13,
533–544
.
44.
Gibson, J.J.
(1966). The senses considered as perceptual systems.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin
.
45.
Goldfield, E.C.
(1995). Emergent forms: Origins and early development of
human action and perception.
New York: Oxford University Press
.
46.
Goldfield, E.C.
,
Kay, B.A.
, &
Warren, W.H.
(1993).
Infant bouncing: The assembly and turning of action systems
. Child Development, 64,
1128–1142
.
47.
Halverson, H.M.
(1931).
An experimental study of prehension in infants by means of systematic
cinema records
. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 10,
107–286
.
48.
Iverson, J.M.
, &
Thelen, E.
(1999).
Hand, mouth, and brain: The dynamic emergence of speech and gesture
. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6,
19–40
.
49.
Jensen, J.L.
,
Ulrich, B.D.
,
Thelen, E.
,
Schneider, K.
, &
Zernicke, R.R.
(1994).
Adaptive dynamics of the leg movement patterns of human infants: I. The
effects of posture on spontaneous kicking
. Journal of Motor Behavior, 26,
303–312
.
50.
Kelso, J.A.S.
(1995). Dynamic patterns: The self-organization of brain and
behavior.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
51.
Kelso, J.A.S.
,
Holt, K.G.
,
Kugler, P.N.
,
&Turvey, M.T.
(1980). On the concept of coordinative structures as
dissipative structures: I. Empirical lines of convergence. In
G. Stelmach
&
J. Requin
(Eds.), Tutorials in motor behavior (pp.
49–70).
Amsterdam: North-Holland
.
52.
Konczak, J.
,
Borutta, M.
,
Topka, H.
, &
Dichgans, J.
(1995).
The development of goal-directed reaching in infants: hand trajectory
formation and joint torque control
. Experimental Brain Research, 106,
156–168
.
53.
Konczak, J.
,
Borutta, M.
, &
Dichgans, J.
(1997).
The development of goal-directed reaching in infants: II. Learning to
produce task-adequate patterns of joint torque
. Experimental Brain Research, 113,
465–474
.
54.
Kugler, P.N.
,
Kelson, J.A.S.
, &
Turvey, M.T.
(1980). On the concept of coordinative structures as
dissipative structures: I. Theoretical lines of convergence. In
G. Stelmach
&
J. Requin
(Eds.), Tutorials in motor behavior (pp.
1–47).
Amsterdam: North-Holland
.
55.
Kugler, P.N.
, &
Turvey, M.T.
(1987). Information, natural law, and the self-assembly of
rhythmic movement.
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
.
56.
Lee, D.N.
, &
Aronson, E.
(1974).
Visual proprioceptive control of standing in human infants
. Perception and Psychophysics, 15,
529–532
.
57.
McCarty, M.E.
,
Clifton, R.K.
, &
Collard, R.R.
(1999).
Problem solving in infancy: The emergence of an action plan
. Developmental Psychology, 35,
1091–1101
.
58.
McGraw, M.B.
(1935). Growth: A study of Johnny and Jimmy.
New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts
.
59.
McGraw, M.B.
(1945). The neuromuscular maturation of the human
infant.
New York: Hafner
. (Reprinted, 1972.)
60.
McGraw, M.B.
(1946). Maturation of behavior. In
L. Carmichael
(Ed.), Manual of child psychology (pp.
332–369).
New York: Wiley
.
61.
Merzenich, M.M.
,
Allard, T.T.
, &
Jenkins, W.M.
(1990). Neural ontogeny of higher brain functions:
Implications of some recent neurological findings. In
O. Franzen
&
P. Westman
(Eds.), Information processing in the somatosensory system (pp.
293–311).
London: Macmillan
.
62.
Nelson, C.
(Ed.) (in press). Handbook of developmental cognitive
neuroscience.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
63.
Newell, K.M.
, &
Molenaar, P.C.M.
(Eds.) (1998). Applications of nonlinear dynamics to
developmental process modeling.
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
.
Pfeifer, R.
, &
Scheier, C.
(1999). Understanding intelligence.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
66.
Piaget, J.
(1952). The origins of intelligence in children.
New York: International Universities Press
.
67.
Preyer, W.
(1888). The mind of the child: Part I. The
senses and the will (
H.W. Brown, Trans.). New York: Appleton
.
68.
Robertson, S.S.
(1993).
Oscillation and complexity in early infant behavior
. Child Development, 64,
1022–1035
.
69.
Robertson, S.S.
,
Cohen, A.H.
, &
Mayer-Kress, G.
(1993). Behavioral chaos: Beyond the metaphor. In
L. Smith
&
E. Thelen
(Eds.), A dynamic systems approach to development (pp.
119–150).
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
70.
Rochat, P.
, &
Morgan, R.
(1995).
Spatial determinants in the perception of self-produced leg movements by 3-
to 5-month-old infants
. Developmental Psychology, 31,
626–636
.
71.
Savelsbergh, G.J.P.
, &
Kamp, J.v.d.
(1993). The coordination of infants’ reaching,
grasping, catching and posture: A natural physical approach. In
G.J.P. Savelsbergh
(Ed.), The development of coordination in infancy (pp.
289–317).
Amsterdam: Elsevier
.
72.
Schneider, K.
,
Zernicke, R.
,
Ulrich, B.
,
Jensen, J.
, &
Thelen, E.
(1990).
Understanding movement control in infants through the analysis of limb
intersegmental dynamics
. Journal of Motor Behavior, 22,
493–520
.
73.
Shadmehr, R.
, &
Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A.
(1994).
Adaptive representation of dynamics during learning of a motor task
. Journal of Neuroscience, 14,
3208–3224
.
74.
Shin, M.W.
(1900). The biography of a baby.
New York: Houghton Mifflin
.
75.
Shirley, M.M.
(1931). The first two years, a study of twenty-five
babies: I. Postural and locomotor development.
Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press
.
76.
Smith, L.B.
,
Thelen, E.
,
Titzer, R.
, &
McLin, D.
(1999).
Knowing in the context of acting: The task dynamics of the A-not-B error
. Psychological Review, 106,
235–260
.
77.
Spencer, J.P.
, &
Thelen, E.
(2000).
Spatially specific changes in infants’ muscle co-activity as they
learn to reach
. Infancy, 1,
275–302
.
78.
Spencer, J.P.
,
Vereijken, B.
,
Diedrich, F.J.
,
&Thelen, E.
(2000).
Posture and the emergence of manual skills
. Developmental Science, 3,
216–233
.
79.
Sporns, O.
, &
Edelman, G.M.
(1993).
Solving Bernstein’s problem: Aproposal for the development of
coordinated movement by selection
. Child Development, 64,
960–981
.
80.
Stoffregen, T.A.
,
Schmuckler, M.A.
, &
Gibson, E.J.
(1987).
Use of central and peripheral optical flow in stance and locomotion in
young walkers
. Perception, 16,
113–119
.
81.
Streri, A.
,
&Pêcheux, M.
(1986).
Vision-to-touch and touch-to-vision transfer of form in 5-month-old infants
. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 4,
161–167
.
82.
Sutherland, D.H.
(1984). Gait disorders in childhood and adolescence.
Baltimore, MA: Williams & Wilkins
.
83.
Taga, G.
(1995).
A model of the neuro-muscular-skeletal system for human locomotion: I.
Emergence of basic gait
. Biological Cybernetics, 73,
97–111
.
84.
Thelen, E.
(1984). Learning to walk: Ecologial demands and
phylogenetic constraints. In
L.P. Lipsitt
(Ed.), Advances in infancy research (Vol. II, pp.
213–250).
Norwood, NJ: Ablex
.
85.
Thelen, E.
(1995).
Motor development: Anew synthesis
. American Psychologist, 50,
79–95
.
86.
Thelen, E.
(2000).
Grounded in the world: Developmental origins of the embodied mind
. Infancy, 1,
3–28
.
87.
Thelen, E.
,
&Adolph, K.E.
(1992).
Arnold L. Gesell: The paradox of nature and nuture
. Developmental Psychology, 28,
368–380
.
88.
Thelen, E.
,
Corbetta, D.
,
Kamm, K.
,
Spencer, J.P.
,
Schneider, K.
, &
Zernicke, R.F.
(1993).
The transition to reaching: Mapping intention and intrinsic dynamics
. Child Development, 64,
1058–1098
.
89.
Thelen, E.
,
Corbetta, D.
, &
Spencer, J.P.
(1996).
The development of reaching during the first year: The role of movement speed
. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and
Performance, 22,
1059–1076
.
90.
Thelen, E.
, &
Fisher, D.M.
(1982).
Newborn stepping: An explanation for a “disappearing reflex”
. Developmental Psychology, 18,
760–775
.
91.
Thelen, E.
, &
Fisher, D.M.
(1983).
The organization of spontaneous leg movements in newborn infants
. Journal of Motor Behavior, 15,
353–377
.
92.
Thelen, E.
,
Fisher, D.M.
, &
Ridley-Johnson, R.
(1984).
The relationship between physical growth and a newborn reflex
. Infant Behavior and Development, 7,
479–493
.
93.
Thelen, E.
,
Schöner, G.
,
Scheier, C.
, &
Smith, L.B.
(in press). The dynamics of embodiment: A field theory of infant
perseverative reaching. Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
94.
Thelen, E.
,
Skala, K.
, &
Kelso, J.A.S.
(1987).
The dynamic nature of early coordination: Evidence from bilateral leg
movements in young infants
. Developmental Psychology, 23,
179–186
.
95.
Thelen, E.
, &
Smith, L.B.
(1994). A dynamic systems approach to the development of
cognition and action.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
.
96.
Thelen, E.
, &
Ulrich, B.
(1991).
Hidden skills: A dynamic systems analysis of treadmill stepping during the
first year
. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Develompent,
56 (1, Serial No. 223).
97.
von Hofsten, C.
(1979).
Development of visually guided reaching: The approach phase
. Journal of Human Movement Studies, 5,
160–178
.
98.
von Hofsten, C.
(1980).
Predictive reaching for moving objects by human infants
. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 30,
369–382
.
99.
von Hofsten, C.
(1982).
Eye-hand coordination in the newborn
. Developmental Psychology, 18,
450–461
.
100.
von Hofsten, C.
(1984).
Developmental changes in the organization of prereaching movements
. Developmental Psychology, 20,
378–388
.
101.
von Hofsten, C.
(1991).
Structuring of early reaching movements: Alongitudinal study
. Journal of Motor Behavior, 23,
280–292
.
102.
von Hofsten, C.
, &
Ronnqvist, L.
(1988).
Preparation for grasping an object: A developmental study
. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and
Performance, 14,
610–621
.
103.
Vygotsky, L.S.
(1978). Mind in society: The development of higher
psychological processes.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
.
104.
White, B.
,
Castle, P.
, &
Held, R.
(1964).
Observations on the development of visually-directed reaching
. Child Development, 35,
349–364
.
105.
Woollacott, M.
, &
Sveistrup, H.
(1992).
Changes in the sequencing and timing of muscle response coordination
associated with developmental transitions in balance abilities
. Human Movement Science, 11,
23–36
.
