Infant Discovery Learning and Lower Extremity Coordination: Influence of Prematurity

ABSTRACT

Aims: Preterm infants at increased risk for neurodevelopmental disabilities, including cerebral palsy, demonstrate reduced selective leg joint coordination. Full-term infants demonstrate more selective hip–knee coordination when specific leg actions are reinforced using an overhead infant mobile. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the ability of preterm infants to: (1) perform and learn through discovery, the contingency between leg action and mobile activation, and (2) demonstrate more selective hip–knee coordination when leg actions are reinforced with mobile activation. Methods: At both 3 and 4-months corrected age, ten infants born very preterm and with very low birth weight participated in 2 sessions of mobile reinforcement on consecutive days. Results: The preterm group at 4-months, but not 3-months, learned the contingency between leg action and mobile activation. Preterm infants at 4-months were separated into those that learned (n = 6) and did not learn (n = 4) the contingency. As a group, preterm infants at 4-months who learned the contingency, did not demonstrate more selective hip–knee coordination when interacting with the mobile on Day 2 as compared to spontaneous kicking on Day 1. Conclusions: Preterm infants, as compared to full-term infants, may have difficulty producing more selective hip–knee coordination during task-specific leg action.

KEYWORDS:

• Infant
• premature
• motor learning
• motor control
• coordination

Declarations of Interest

This research was supported by Promotion of Doctoral Studies (PODS) I and II awards from the Foundation for Physical Therapy and an Adopt-A-Doc Scholarship from the Education Section of the American Physical Therapy Association to Barbara Sargent. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Nicolas Schweighofer, Hyeshin Park, Jeremy Welch, Yukikazu Hidaka and Younggeun Choi who provided technical resources for the development of the infant-activated mobile system, and to Thais Helena Oliveira Bock, Ta'Shariah Robinson, Kelly Young and Christina Diggs who assisted with data collection and analysis. Special thanks to the parents and infants who participated in the study.