VOLUNTARY MOVEMENT AND INTERSENSORY DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

This study examined the development of intersensory relations in children contrasting passive with active kinesthetic functioning when each was interacting with the visual and the haptic mode.;Based on the findings of Held, et al. it was hypothesized that childrens' performance would be more accurate at given ages in the active than in the passive mode.;Using a method of equivalence developed by Birch and Lefford (1963), 61 five to eleven-year old middle class children of average or better I.Q. were tested. Children were required to identify eight geometric shapes under each of five conditions: visual-haptic; visual-kinesthetic passive; haptic-kinesthetic passive; visual-kinesthetic active; and haptic-kinesthetic active.;The results were contrary to those predicted. The performance by children at each age in the active condition was consistently less accurate than performance in the passive condition. It was argued that the difference in findings between Held's and those of the present study may be accounted for by differences in task requirements. Held's task required the accurate merging of information from the visual and kinesthetic modes in order for tasks to be accurately performed. Tasks in the present study required not the merging but the comparing across these sense systems to determine similarity or difference.;It was suggested that studies of intersensory relations should now be studied in terms of the specific task requirements and the competencies needed in children for task success.;Such study should further our understanding of the generalization regarding intersensory development discovered by Birch and Lefford and verified in the present study.