title: Modulating peripersonal and extrapersonal reach space via tool use: a comparison between 6- to 12-year-olds and young adults.
abstract: This study examined age-related characteristics associated with tool use in the perception and modulation of peripersonal and extrapersonal space. Seventy-six (76) children representing age groups 7-, 9-, 11 years and 36 adults were presented with two experiments using an estimation of reach paradigm involving arm and tool conditions and a switch-block of the opposite condition. Experiment 1 tested Arm and Tool (20 cm length) estimation and found a significant effect for Age, Space, and an Age × Space interaction (ps < 0.05). Both children and adults were less accurate in extrapersonal space, indicating an overestimation bias. Interestingly, the adjustment period during the switch-block condition was immediate and similar across age. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1 with the exception of using a 40-cm-length tool. Results also revealed an age effect and a difference in Space (ps < 0.05), however, participants underestimated. Speculatively, participants were less confident when presented with a longer tool, even though the adjustment period with both tool lengths was similar. Considered together, these results hint that: (1) children as young as 6 years of age are capable of being as accurate when estimating reach with a tool as they are with their arm, (2) the adjustment period associated with extending and retracting spaces is immediate rather than gradual, and (3) tool length influences estimations of reach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019-0259, USA. cacola@uta.edu
authors.forename: Priscila
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caçola
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gabbard
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010550:Personal Space; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult