Background

The timing and coordination of infant kicking may allow for activities that facilitate learning and cognitive development.

Objective

This study examined spontaneous kicking and associations with changes in kicking during a learning paradigm in typically developing infants.

Methods

Ten healthy full-term infants participated in two experiments at 3 months of age: spontaneous kicking and the mobile paradigm. The inter-limb, intra-limb, and spatiotemporal parameters during spontaneous kicking were collected by 3D motion capture. Learning was measured in the mobile paradigm where an infant’s leg was tethered to an overhead mobile. The mobile offered visual and auditory reinforcement when the infant kicked. Changes in kicking rate indicate learning. Friedman tests were used to determine the dominant inter-/intra-limb kicking patterns. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were used to assess the correlations between spontaneous kicking and performance in the mobile paradigm.

Results

A significant negative correlation (r = −0.72, p = 0.03) was observed between the percentages of unilateral kicking and normalized kicking rate during the extinction phase of the paradigm. There was a trend of positive correlation (r = 0.58, p < 0.10) between dissociated hip-ankle joint coupling and the last three-minute of the acquisition phase of the paradigm.

Conclusion

Exploratory kicking behaviors elicited by visual and auditory feedback may be related to lower extremity movement control. Enhancing movement experience through appropriate external feedback may be critical in treatment programs to support infant development. Future studies to assess how exploratory motor behaviors contribute to development in motor and other domains are warranted.

中文翻译：

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3-4 个月大婴儿自发踢腿与学习之间关联的初步证据

背景

婴儿踢腿的时机和协调可能允许促进学习和认知发展的活动。

客观的

这项研究检查了典型发育婴儿在学习范式期间自发踢腿和踢腿变化的关联。

方法

10 名健康足月婴儿在 3 个月大时参加了两项实验：自发踢腿和移动范式。自发踢腿过程中的肢体间、肢体内和时空参数通过 3D 动作捕捉收集。学习是在移动范式中衡量的，在这种范式中，婴儿的腿被拴在头顶的移动设备上。当婴儿踢腿时，手机提供视觉和听觉强化。踢球率的变化表明学习。弗里德曼测试用于确定主要的肢体间/肢体内踢腿模式。斯皮尔曼等级相关系数用于评估自发踢球与移动范式中的表现之间的相关性。

结果

 在范式的灭绝阶段，单侧踢腿的百分比和归一化踢腿率之间观察到显着的负相关（r = -0.72，p = 0.03）。 在解离的髋-踝关节耦合与范式采集阶段的最后三分钟之间存在正相关趋势（r  = 0.58，p < 0.10）。

结论

视觉和听觉反馈引发的探索性踢腿行为可能与下肢运动控制有关。通过适当的外部反馈增强运动体验对于支持婴儿发育的治疗计划可能至关重要。未来的研究需要评估探索性运动行为如何促进运动和其他领域的发展。