Reciprocal interweaving in neuromotor development. A principle of spiral organization shown in the patterning of infant behavior
✍ Scribed by Arnold Gesell
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1939
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 992 KB
- Volume
- 70
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0021-9967
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
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SEVEN FIGURES
Flexion and extension are the two most fundamental components of muscular movement. Sherrington has formulated a law of 'reciprocal innervation' which shows the functional relationships of these components in the counteraction of aiitagonistic muscles. The inhibition of one set of muscles while the opposing muscles are in excitation is a condition for effective movement. Reciprocal iiiiiervatioii is a mode of coordination, a physiological mechanism.
I n the ontogenesis of the neuromotor system a complicated integration must likewise be achieved between antagonistic muscles. Appropriate structures f o r subserving inhibition must be progressively provided. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that there is a mode of growth which asserts itself in a developmental fluctuation of dominance in flexors versus extensors and also in unilateral and crossed lateral versus bilateral muscle groups. Inasmuch as behavior patterning and structural growth are intimately correlated, we describe this developmental principle or mechanism as a reciprocal interweaving process.
Neurologically this process implies an intricate crossstitching or involuted interlacing which organizes opposing muscle systems into reciprocal and increasingly mature relationships. Functionally this process results in a progressive spiral kind of reincorporation of sequential forms of behavior,