The control of posture in newly standing infants is task dependent

Exploring Task-Specific Independent Standing in 3- to 5-Month-Old Infants

“…For infants it is challenging to control and coordinate the body’s degrees of freedom (ankle, knee, hip, and trunk) while maintaining their CoM within the BoS in standing (Claxton et al, 2012). …”

“…Due to an innate activation of muscles that takes place before independent standing develops (the phase of primary repertoire) (Hadders-Algra, 2000), infants could display postural responses that enable them to stand in the hands of the instructor. Moreover, during the program the infant explores the dynamics of the skill (Blauw-Hospers et al, 2011; Claxton et al, 2012), and development of standing proceeds with the selection of neural network involved on the basis of afferent information produced by behavioral experience (the phase of secondary repertoire) (Hadders-Algra, 2000). …”

“…Similar, experience affects the development of postural adjustment (Hadders-Algra et al, 1996; Sigmundsson and Hopkins, 2009; Claxton et al, 2013). Development of postural adjustment and control is typically characterized by an increase in the infant’s motor repertoire and improved competence in selecting the best strategy to respond to the specifics of the situation, i.e., choosing more advanced anticipatory actions (Claxton et al, 2012; Haddad et al, 2013; Hadders-Algra, 2013). The idea that experience and stimuli serve as a basis for motor development, is mainly derived from perspectives like “neuronal group selection theory” (NGST) (Edelman, 1987, 1992; Thelen and Smith, 1994; Hadders-Algra, 2000; Blauw-Hospers et al, 2011).…”

Which biomechanical models are currently used in standing posture analysis?

“…Cognitive load increase can take various forms: speaking in whiplash patients [68]; an auditory-memory task in blind persons [72]; a reading task in dyslexic children [66]; counting backward [74] or word list generation [88] in patients with multiple sclerosis; or audio-visual distraction in post-stroke patients [13]. Interestingly, one study shows that newly standing children have an improved postural control, seen as a reduced CoP displacement, when holding a toy in their hands [20].…”

Newly Standing Infants Increase Postural Stability When Performing a Supra-Postural Task

“…For example, adults minimize body sway when performing a manual task that requires a high degree of precision compared to a task requiring little precision since any extraneous body sway could result in the hand making less accurate movements [26]. Learning to control posture based on the context of a concurrent task is likely an important aspect of motor development [6], [27].…”