Multisensory and biomechanical influences on postural control in children.
J Exp Child Psychol
; 238: 105796, 2024 02.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37883904
ABSTRACT
Children's ability to maintain balance requires effective integration of multisensory and biomechanical information. The current project examined the interaction between such sensory inputs, manipulating visual input (presence vs. absence), haptic (somatosensory) input (presence vs. absence of contact with a stable or unstable finger support surface), and biomechanical (sensorimotor) input (varying stance widths). Analyses of mean velocity of the center of pressure and the percentage stability gain highlighted the role of varying multisensory inputs in postural control. Developmentally, older children (6-11 years) showed a multisensory integration advantage compared with their younger counterparts (3-5.9 years), with the impact of varying sensory inputs more closely akin to that seen in adults. Subsequent analyses of the impact of anthropometric individual difference parameters (e.g., height, leg length, weight, areas of base of support) revealed a shifting pattern across development. For younger children, these parameters were positively related to postural stability across experimental conditions (i.e., increasing body size was related to increasing postural control). This pattern transitioned for older children, who showed a nonsignificant relation between body size and balance. Interestingly, because adults show a negative relation between anthropometric factors and stability (i.e., increasing body size is related to decreasing postural control), this shift for the older children can be seen as a developmental transition from child-like to adult-like balance control.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Posture
/
Postural Balance
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Child
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Exp Child Psychol
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Canadá