Activation and inhibition of bimanual movements in school-aged children.
The development of motor activation and inhibition was compared in 6-to-12 year-olds. Children had to initiate or stop the externally paced movements of one hand, while maintaining that of the other hand. The time needed to perform the switching task (RT) and the spatio-temporal variables show different age-related evolutions depending on the coordination pattern (in- or anti-phase) and the type of transition (activation, selective inhibition, non selective inhibition) required. In the anti-phase mode, activation perturbs the younger subjects' responses while temporal and spatial stabilities transiently decrease around 9 years when activating in the in-phase mode. Aged-related changes differed between inhibition and activation in the anti-phase mode, suggesting either the involvement of distinct neural networks or the existence of a single network that is reorganized. In contrast, stopping or adding one hand in the in-phase mode shows similar aged-related improvement. We suggest that selectively stopping or activating one arm during symmetrical coordination rely on the two faces of a common processing in which activation could be the release of inhibition.
Barral
J
J
Institut des Sciences du Sport et de l'Education Physique, Faculté des Sciences Sociales et Politiques, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland.
De Pretto
M
M
Debû
B
B
Hauert
C A
CA
D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*