Early human motor development: From variation to the ability to vary and adapt

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.05.009Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Cortical activity modulates motor behavior from early fetal age onwards.

  • At early age motor behavior is characterized by variation and limited adaptation.

  • A major transformation in motor development occurs at 3–4 months post-term.

  • Transformation coincides with subplate dissolution in sensory and motor cortices.

  • After 3–4 months post-term, movement variation starts to serve adaptation.

Abstract

This review summarizes early human motor development. From early fetal age motor behavior is based on spontaneous neural activity: activity of networks in the brainstem and spinal cord that is modulated by supraspinal activity. The supraspinal activity, first primarily brought about by the cortical subplate, later by the cortical plate, induces movement variation. Initially, movement variation especially serves exploration; its associated afferent information is primarily used to sculpt the developing nervous system, and less to adapt motor behavior. In the next phase, beginning at function-specific ages, movement variation starts to serve adaptation. In sucking and swallowing, this phase emerges shortly before term age. In speech, gross and fine motor development, it emerges from 3 to 4 months post-term onwards, i.e., when developmental focus in the primary sensory and motor cortices has shifted to the permanent cortical circuitries. With increasing age and increasing trial-and-error exploration, the infant improves its ability to use adaptive and efficicient forms of upright gross motor behavior, manual activities and vocalizations belonging to the native language.

Keywords

Variation
Variability
Adaptation
General movements
Gross motor development postural adjustments
Fine motor development
Sucking and swallowing
Development of chewing
Speech development
Cortical subplate
Neuronal Group Selection Theory

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