Speed and Accuracy of Movement During Visuomotor Adaptation Are Still Developing in School‐Age Children

ABSTRACT

Visuomotor adaptation is essential for motor development, required to acquire and refine motor skills. Children as young as five can adapt to small visual rotations like adults. However, changes in kinematic and temporal properties during adaptation have not been thoroughly characterized in children. In this study, adults (19–45 years, N  = 23, females = 13) and 6‐ to 11‐year‐old children ( N  = 46, females = 26), from diverse ethnic backgrounds, moved a cursor to a target using a mouse. The cursor position was rotated during adaptation, requiring the participants to adjust their movement to reach the target on time. All ages adapted similarly, as measured by the initial direction angle, but children took significantly longer than adults to reach the target. Younger children (6–8 years) were less likely than older children (9–11 years) and adults to reach the target on time. An efficiency score combining movement time and accuracy showed that younger children were less efficient than older children and adults during the initial adaptation stage but increased their efficiency when re‐adapting to the same rotation in a later stage. These results suggest that, while adaptation rates are adult‐like, movement control and speed are still maturing in childhood.