Motor skils & Action

Did you know ?

– From birth, newborns are able to move quadupedally to the maternal breast.

– The fetus more often sucks the thumb of the hand with which, as a child, it cried.

– At 16 months old, children learn faster when they observe someone handling an object than when they handle it themselves.

– Babies could move quadupedally if they were not constrained by the weight of their head and trunk.

Ongoing Project

Early development of cerebral representations of the body in infants: explorations in neuroimaging and behaviour

The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of how a baby’s brain perceives and represents different parts of its body in the first few months after birth, using functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioural assessments.

Project collaborator

Marianne Barbu-Roth

Effect of early training in crawling using a mini skateboard on the locomotor and motor development of very premature cerebral palsy patients

The project consists of evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of 8 weeks of early stimulation training in quadruped walking on a mini skateboard, the Crawli skate, in 50 very premature babies at high risk of neurodevelopmental disorders and followed longitudinally.