Measuring kinaesthetic sensitivity in typically developing children

Abstract

This study presents a method to quantify a child’s sensitivity to passive limb motion, which is an important aspect of kinaesthesia not easily examined clinically. Psychophysical detection thresholds to passive forearm motion were determined in a group of 20 typically developing pre‐adolescent children (mean age 12y 6mo, SD 10mo, range 11−13y) and a group of 10 healthy adults (mean age 29y 10mo, SD 10y 7mo, range 18−50y). A newly designed passive motion apparatus was used to measure the time to detection of forearm motion and the errors in determining movement direction. Results showed that limb motion sensitivity became increasingly variable below 0.3°/s in children and adults. In comparison with adults, movement detection times in the pediatric group were increased by between 4% and 108% for the range of tested velocities (0.075−1.35°/s). At 0.075°/s, 5% of the children, but 50% of the adults, made no directional error, indicating that motion perception became unreliable at such low velocity in both groups. The findings demonstrate that sensitivity to passive forearm motion in children should be tested at a range between 0.075 and 0.3°/s. They further suggest that passive motion sensitivity may not be fully developed in pre‐adolescent children.

Development of state estimation explains improvements in sensorimotor performance across childhood

“…Analyses of the means were consistent with those of the medians. previous research (Contreras-Vidal 2006;King et al 2010;Pickett and Konczak 2009;Visser and Geuze 2000). Linear improvements in proprioceptive acuity have been reported across 5-to 12-year-old children (e.g., Visser and Geuze 2000).…”

A systematic review of sensorimotor function during adolescence: a developmental stage of increased motor awkwardness?

“…Sigmundsson et al 32 reported a trend of improved proprioceptive sensitivity with age (sample of ages 5–12). Pickett and Konczak30 concluded that although adolescents (ages 11–13) are relatively accurate in terms of passive motion sensitivity, their movement detection times are slower than those of adults.…”

Development of interactions between sensorimotor representations in school-aged children

“…The first option, that internal models can be expected to become less accurate when the unimodal input itself is not well defined, is supported by a recent study in 7–13 year old children, testing the accuracy of the unimodal estimates of vision and proprioception. Using a localization task, the study showed that proprioceptive-based estimates become increasingly more reliable in older children (King, Pangelinan, Kagerer, & Clark, 2010; Pickett & Konczak, 2009); as a result, younger children up-weight visual information, whereas older children up-weight proprioceptive input when task demands require this. An earlier study in 5–11 year old children using a localization task in connection with a tendon vibration perturbation (Hay, Bard, Ferrel, Olivier, & Fleury, 2005) showed an interesting pattern of movement amplitude accuracy: constant amplitude errors showed a U-shaped function of age, with the highest accuracy at 5 and 11 years of age, and lower accuracy at 7 and 9 years.…”