Influence of age and movement complexity on kinematic hand movement parameters in childhood and adolescence

Abstract

Development of fine motor functions, especially drawing and handwriting, are crucial for performance in school, autonomy in everyday life and the general human development. A variety of neurological and psychiatric conditions in childhood and adolescence stunt the normal development of fine motor skills. We sought to define the normal development of the kinematic parameters of fine motor movement and determine the influence of gender, laterality of handedness and extracurricular training on fine motor skills. One hundred and eighty-seven children and adolescents (mean age: 11.6 years (+/-S.D.: 3.58), range: 6-18 years) were included in the study. Participants performed drawing and handwriting tasks on a digitizing graphic tablet. Movement and pressure data were transferred to a computer using a sensor-equipped pen and post-processed using CSWIN. Movements were segmented into strokes and several kinematic parameters were calculated. The kinematic parameters that were analyzed represented speed (frequency and stroke peak velocity), automation (number of direction changes of velocity per stroke), variability (variation coefficient of stroke peak velocity) and pressure. Progression of kinematic parameters for each movement domain of the handwriting and circle drawing tasks correlated significantly with age (Pearson's correlation, p<0.003). Speed, automation and pressure increased with age, whereas variability decreased. Nonlinear regressions revealed maturation of hand movements at a certain age. Age of completed maturation depended on the task complexity (drawing circles vs. handwriting) and kinematic parameters. In the speed and automation domains, handwriting movements finish maturing later than circle drawing. Male subjects drew circles at significantly higher speeds than female subjects. Fine motor practice and laterality of handedness did not influence kinematic parameters. A repeated measure ANOVA confirmed the significant interdependency between age and complexity level for speed and automation (p<0.001). The digitizing graphic tablet is an extremely valuable tool in determining the normal development of hand movement skills of children and adolescents by measuring relevant daily tasks like handwriting and drawing. In our study, we showed that future analyses of impaired movement in children and adolescents need to take age and gender into consideration. Furthermore, differences were observed in the maturation of different task complexities, the complex fine motor function reaching maturity later than basic and repetitive movement patterns.

Differential Beta-Band Event-Related Desynchronization during Categorical Action Sequence Planning

“…This leads to the speculation that the categorical action sequences used in the current study may have different preparation loads. And the different preparations may be due to movement complexity of sequences [39], [40]. However, in this study, the overall error rates among the three categories did not show statistical difference, and the movement onset latency among the three categories did not differ significantly either.…”

Manual Control Age and Sex Differences in 4 to 11 Year Old Children

“…Dorfberger et al [26] reported that girls were significantly faster at writing nonsense words in early blocks of trials (n = 116, 9–17 years age range) but this effect disappeared in later blocks before a male advantage appeared in the final blocks for the oldest age group only (17 years). Rueckreigel et al [32] reported that males were faster in a drawing task (producing a circle) but not on a sentence or repetitive letter writing task (n = 187, 6–18 years old), though the study did not stratify the sample for age. Van Mier [33] found no sex differences in a task that required children to move a handheld stylus around small and large targets on a screen (n = 60, 4–12 years age range).…”

Decomposing cerebral blood flow MRI into functional and structural components: A non-local approach based on prediction

“…We examined trends from a variety of areas representing distinct functional domains and developmental characteristics. The hippocampus and precuneus represent higher-order memory and cognitive functions [53], and the occipital cortex and precentral gyrus represent sensorimotor regions that are presumed to mature relatively early in development [54, 55]. The default mode network (DMN), a collection of regions that are most active when subjects are not specifically engaged in any externally directed task [56], continues to undergo maturation during adolescence [57, 58].…”