Poster #75 - Bimanual coordination under high cognitive demands: A cognitive/action trade-off in 3- to 5-year-olds

• In Event: Poster Session 10

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated trade-offs between cognitive load and action efficacy in infancy (e.g. Berger, 2010; Berger et al., 2018; Hespos & Baillargeon, 2006; Keen et al., 2003). For example, if mental resources in infants were directed to thinking about the goal-state, motor planning and execution was impaired (Boudreau & Bushnell, 2000). These trade-offs suggest a common cognitive control system for cognitive and motor control processes in infancy.

This study investigated the link between cognitive and motor control processes in the preschool period by examining the effect of cognitive load on bimanual coordination. Bimanual coordination is the intentional coordinated use of two hands to perform an action or a sequence of actions and develops in the first two years of life (e.g. Birtles, 2011). This study used a combination of secondary data-analysis (from Schröer et al., 2021) and new empirical data to address this question.

In the first part, bimanual coordination under high, medium and low cognitive load tasks was investigated in 3-year-olds. Twenty-five 3-year-olds (M = 39±3 months, 10 females) were assessed on bimanual coordination of their hands while stacking Duplo blocks in the low and medium cognitive load tasks. Secondary data of another 25 3-year-olds (M = 42±3 months, 17 females; Schröer et al., 2021) was used to investigate performance under high cognitive load.

The low cognitive load task involved stacking the blocks with step-by-step instructions without a higher-level goal, the medium cognitive load task involved stacking blocks with step-by-step instructions with more complexity of the stimuli, and the high cognitive load task involved stacking blocks while planning and executing actions according to a hierarchical goal structure. We coded whether children coordinated their hands while stacking in a bimanual fashion or with missing bimanual coordination (Figure 1). We found significantly more missing bimanual coordination in the high cognitive load task (Figure 2) than in the other two tasks (medium: t(48) = 3.65, p = .001; low: t(48) = 5.14, p < .001), providing evidence for the effect of cognitive load on bimanual control in 3-year-olds.

In the second part of the study using secondary data-analysis only (from Schröer et al., 2021), we investigated whether this effect persisted over the preschool years and whether it was related to changes in executive functions. Twenty-five 3-year-olds’ (M = 42±3 months, 17 females), 24 4-year-olds’ (M = 51±3 months, 10 females), and 20 5-year-olds’ (M = 63±2 months, 10 females) bimanual coordination while stacking blocks under high cognitive load was investigated. We found no significant effect of age on the amount of missing bimanual coordination under high cognitive load (F(2,64) = 0.79, p = .459). However, inhibitory control and working memory were predictive of missing bimanual coordination (F(2,59) = 5.29, p = .008, R2 = .152).

These results suggest that a cognitive/action trade-off exists during the preschool years, in which higher cognitive demands impair intentional bimanual coordination in preschoolers. This in turn suggests that there is a common cognitive control system for cognitive and motor control processes in preschool period as well.

Authors

• Lisanne Schroer, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  Presenting Author

• Johanna-Katherina Maninger

• Richard P. Cooper, Birkbeck, University of London

• Denis Mareschal, Birkbeck, Universty of London