Intraindividual Variability in the Development of Motor Skills in Childhood
2014
However you look at it, children’s movements are variable. Intraindividual variability is a
signature component of motor development. A toddler’s foot traces a variable trajectory
through the air, each shaky step is a different wobbly variant of the previous one, and the
shape of the walking path varies from trial to trial. For some aspects of motor skill, intraindividual variability decreases over development: An infant’s foot trajectory becomes smoother
in the course of a step, each step in a sequence becomes more similar to the last, and the walking path becomes more consistent across trials (Cheron et al., 2001; Looper, Wu, Barroso,
Ulrich, & Ulrich, 2006). For other aspects of skill, variability continues or increases over
development: Foot trajectory varies to clear obstacles in the path, steps vary to accommodate
variations in the terrain, and the shape of the walking path varies to navigate a cluttered room
(Adolph et al., 2012; Dominici, Ivanenko, Cappellini, Zampagni, & Lacquaniti, 2010). For still
other aspects of motor skill, the structure of variability changes over development: In a novice
walker, speed and step length vary willy-nilly from step to step, causing a random pattern of
variability, but in an experienced infant walker, step length and speed increase in tandem over
the sequence and step-to-step variability has a coherent structure (Badaly & Adolph, 2008).
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