The role of dynamic systems theory in motor development research: how does theory inform practice and what are the potential implications for autism spectrum disorder?

Abstract

Dynamic systems theory (DST) outlines three constraints (i.e. individual, task, and environment) that influence the emergence of behavior. These constraints interact with one another to self-organize and create a spontaneous behavior. For many researchers studying motor development, this spontaneous behavior refers to the production of motor movement. DST provides an explanation for the variability and spontaneous movement that occurs from individual to individual. While this theory is accepted as one of the major explanations of motor development, it is unknown how it is being utilized to inform the research on motor development or the development of interventions. In this review, the author found 18 instances in the literature where DST had been used to analyze, test, or manipulate motor patterns and movement. Overall, the studies report a positive effect from the manipulation of constraints with respect to a change in motor pattern. Only one study was found that sought to positively improve behavior through the directed use of constraints; the majority of studies sought to understand the influence constraints have on the production of movement.

Effect of Contingency Paradigm–Based Interventions on Developmental Outcomes in Young Infants: A Systematic Review

“…Finally, sticky mittens afford reaching success without demanding grasping precision. Thus, reducing constraints to reaching using sticky mittens may facilitate repetition and motor learning, especially in preterm infants 57…”

Vestibular Stimulation May Drive Multisensory Processing: Principles for Targeted Sensorimotor Therapy (TSMT)

“…Traditional views regarding motor development aim to achieve functional improvements by developing "typical" patterns of movement, thus placing the "correction" of the child's body function into the focus of therapy [80]. On the contrary, DST offers a context-based approach, by proposing that behavior emerges as individual characteristics, environment and task constrains converge in a coordinated manner [81]. Since behavior is viewed as the net of the body-environment-task interaction, developmental trends appear due to the changes of interaction between the components of the system.…”

“…Furthermore, dynamic systems theory places great emphasis on spontaneous self-organization, a stable, preferable movement pattern based on the influence of constraints, with task or activity completion as the goal (as opposed to learning the typical movement patterns). By changing the landscape of constraints, e.g., placing the child into different environment or different tasks, and enabling atypical movement with the aim of task completion new, adaptive movement patterns may be learnt [81], leading to multi-sensorial mapping with error signals that subsequently contribute to more and more effective engrams/attractor wells. TSMT incorporates multi-sensory inputs (with weighting of signaling being practiced and refined) into therapy, supplying fundamental input to develop the repertoire of feedback and feedforward.…”

Effect of Motor Development Levels on Kinematic Synergies During Two-Hand Catching in Children

“…According to this theory, the main challenge during motor development is the way that the motor system controls dimensionality (degrees of freedom; DoFs) in joints, muscles, forces and neural activity in a coordinated manner (Newell, 1986). The emergence of new movement patterns, or refinement of existing movement patterns, are self-organised and occur through interactions of organism, environment and task constraints (Colombo-Dougovito, 2017). The coordination of a multitude of DoFs and the exploitation of redundancy, both at the kinematic and kinetic level, is a key process in the execution of motor skills (Jarque-Bou, Scano, Atzori, & Müller, 2019).…”