Development of Action and the Clinical Continuum

[摘要] The development of action is depicted asconsisting of changes in the task-specificcouplings between perception, movement, andposture. It is argued that this approach mayprovide a much needed basis from whichattempts can be made at theoretically unifyingthe constituents of the clinical continuum (viz.,early detection, diagnosis, prognosis, andintervention). Illustrative examples germane tothis approach are given with regard to howposture serves as a constraint on the emergenceof reaching movements and how corticaldevelopment influences the coordination of legmovements as revealed by a study involvinginfants with white matter lesions. Particularattention is paid to early detection and it isrecommended that further improvements tothis aspect of the clinical continuum can bederived from combining serial qualitative andquantitative (kinematic) assessments withbrain-imaging techniques. It is emphasized thatquantitative assessments should incorporateexperimental manipulations of perception,movement or posture during transitionalperiods in development. Concluding commentsinclude consideration of the timing of earlyintervention.

[学科分类] 精神健康和精神病学