[Connection between finger task movements and contralaterally associated movements in children].
Two experiments were carried out to investigate the connection between finger task movements (TM) and contralaterally associated movements (CAM). In Experiment I, 40 children ranging in age from five to six were required to play "marbles" (TM) with the right thumb or forefinger, while two investigators checked CAM on their left fingers. The result showed the local relation between TM and CAM wasn't strictly symmetric. In Experiment II, 60 children ranging in age from five to seven were required to consciously control their contralateral finger movements while they played TM. Following three conditions were provided; 1) The free condition with no control, 2) the inhibitory condition with conscious inhibition of CAM, and 3) the imitative condition with a typical CAM pattern. Findings were that, though all children could inhibit CAM consciously, the five-year-olds couldn't. Furthermore, TM performance improved in the lower performance group, but it deteriorated in the higher group in association with the contralateral control. These results suggest that there is a cooperative and reciprocal relationship between TM and the contralateral finger movements.
Fukudome
R
R
Hiroshima Shudo University.
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis