Visuomotor synchronization in adults and seven- to eight-year-old children

Abstract

A group of 22 seven- to eight-year-old children and a group of 17 adults participated in the experiment in which they synchronized their movements (pressing a button) with an isochronous sequence of visual stimuli. The period of the sequence was varied between 500 to 2000 ms at a step of 300 ms. Two consecutive phases of visuomotor synchronization were studied: the initiation phase, which corresponds to the process of transition between responding to a visual stimulus to stable synchronization with them, and the synchronization phase. The initiation phase was characterized by the shape and duration of the asynchrony time course (relaxation curve). The statistical properties of asynchrony were analyzed in terms of the phase correction of the central timer. It was shown that (1) the range of successful visuomotor synchronization was narrower in seven- to eight-year-old children than in adults (from 600–700 ms to ∼1700 ms); (2) the initiation phase duration was about the same in seven- to eight-year-old children and adults, and typical shapes of individual relaxation curves were similar in both adults and children; (3) although the statistical properties of asynchrony were comparable in children and adults, the mechanism of phase correction of the central timer operated at a lower correction gain factor in children than in adults. In children, the phase correction process was also characterized by a substantially higher level of the central and motor noise, which leads to higher asynchrony variability and more frequent and longer synchronization losses.