Motor Development

Over the first years of life, humans exhibit an increasing ability to coordinate movements of the body. The initial emergence of these motor capacities and their subsequent refinement is often referred to as motor development. The physical development of muscle strength is required for this, but visual perception and skills such as postural control and balance are critical as well. The dynamic systems approach to development has been extremely influential in this area, as it has emphasized the need to consider interactions between physical, perceptual, cognitive, social, and motor development in order to understand any of the individual domains.

In adulthood, motor performance peaks and then gradually declines; motor development thus occurs across the life span. The vast majority of research on motor development, however, has ...