The development of locomotor planning for end-state comfort

Cowie, D.; Smith, L.; Braddick, O.

doi:10.1068/p6343

The development of locomotor planning for end-state comfort

Cowie, D.; Smith, L.; Braddick, O.

Authors

Professor Dorothy Cowie dorothy.cowie@durham.ac.uk
Professor

L. Smith

O. Braddick

Abstract

Walking through real-world environments involves using perceptual information to make complex choices between alternative routes, and this ability must develop through childhood. We examined performance and its development in one such situation. We used a novel ‘river-crossing’ paradigm analogous to manual ‘end-state comfort’ planning tasks, where an uncomfortable manoeuvre at the start of a movement is traded off for comfort at its end. Adults showed locomotor end-state comfort planning, adjusting feet at the start of a route in order to gain comfort at its end (crossing a manageable gap between two stepping stones). 3 – 6-year-olds also made this trade-off, but to a lesser degree than adults. The results suggest that end-state comfort is an important determiner of locomotor behaviour. Furthermore, they show that children as young as 3 years can use detailed visual information to form sophisticated locomotor plans.

Citation

Cowie, D., Smith, L., & Braddick, O. (2010). The development of locomotor planning for end-state comfort. Perception, 39(5), 661-670. https://doi.org/10.1068/p6343

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2010
Deposit Date	Oct 24, 2013
Publicly Available Date	Feb 12, 2015
Journal	Emotion
Print ISSN	0301-0066
Electronic ISSN	1468-4233
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	39
Issue	5
Pages	661-670
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1068/p6343

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Copyright Statement
Dorothy Cowie, Liam Smith, Oliver Braddick, 2010. The definitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Perception, 39(5), 2010, 10.1068/p6343