Explain the dynamic systems perspective on motor development using an example of a baby learning to walk.
What will be an ideal response?
- It is useful to think about different skills emerging at different points in development, or to track the developmental course of a single skill, such as locomotion or grasping. But in reality all kinds of development takes place all the time, and the course and sequence is much more interactive across modalities.
- The dynamic systems perspective trades on this notion, and provides a more comprehensive account of how motor development takes place.
- For example, walking is a major developmental milestone in an infant's life, and the focus is rightly on the legs as the agents of locomotion. But a dynamic systems perspective would point out that walking also crucially involves visual input (to avoid tables, bumps in the rug, and the family cat), perception (to assess gradients, inclines, and so on), psychological processes (such as motivation or goal attainment; "the Cheerios are over there, but my body is over here!"), and other interacting forces.
- The larger perspective of a dynamic systems approach helps shed light on the multifaceted nature of development.
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