Bimanual strategies for object retrieval in infants and young children

Article


Birtles, D., Anker, S., Atkinson, J., Shellens, R., Briscoe, A., Mahoney, M. and Braddick, O. 2011. Bimanual strategies for object retrieval in infants and young children. Experimental Brain Research. 211 (2), pp. 207-218.
AuthorsBirtles, D., Anker, S., Atkinson, J., Shellens, R., Briscoe, A., Mahoney, M. and Braddick, O.
Abstract

Age differences in goal-directed bimanual coordination were studied in typically developing infants aged 9 – 29 months, compared to a group of children aged 4-6 years and a group of adults, using an object retrieval task. This task required one hand to open and hold the lid of a transparent box, while the second hand retrieved a small toy from inside the box. Well-coordinated retrieval strategies with differentiated use of the two hands were not established in the majority of infants until 18 months of age. Temporal analysis of the hand actions revealed that, unlike adults who perform the task with close synchronization of the hands at the start, the infants performed the task sequentially and did not activate the second hand until the first hand had started to lift the lid. The children’s hand preferences for the two hand actions also contrasted with those of adults. In children aged 27-29 months and 4-6 years there was a preference for using the right hand to lift the lid while in right-handed adults the reverse pattern was observed. The results suggest that although bimanual coordination starts to develop in the second year of life, the adult pattern of performance on this task is not observed before 6 years of age. It is likely that further maturation of the brain networks involved in bimanual coordination, and in particular functional interhemispheric transfer via the corpus callosum, is required before automatization of bimanual hand actions is achieved.

Keywordsbimanual coordination; hand preference
JournalExperimental Brain Research
Journal citation211 (2), pp. 207-218
Year2011
Accepted author manuscript
License
CC BY-ND
Web address (URL)http://hdl.handle.net/10552/1336
Publication dates
PrintJun 2011
Publication process dates
Deposited04 Nov 2011
Additional information

Citation:
Birtles, D., Anker, S., Atkinson, J., Shellens, R., Briscoe, A., Mahoney, M. & Braddick, O. (2011) Bimanual strategies for object retrieval in infants and young children. Experimental Brain Research, 211(2), 207-218..

Permalink -

https://repository.uel.ac.uk/item/860v9

Download files


Accepted author manuscript
Birtles_2011.pdf
License: CC BY-ND

  • 144
    total views
  • 312
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 37
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Brain responses and looking behavior during audiovisual speech integration in infants predict auditory speech comprehension in the second year of life
Kushnerenko, E., Tomalski, P., Ballieux, H., Potton, A., Birtles, D., Frostick, C. and Moore, D. 2013. Brain responses and looking behavior during audiovisual speech integration in infants predict auditory speech comprehension in the second year of life. Frontiers in Psychology. 4 (432).