Abstract
The purpose of this study was to clalify the development of locomotor movement in early childhood analyzing the coordination patterns of four limbs in motion. The coordination patterns of four limbs were defined as "backward cross type", " forward cross type", both of which named by IWAMOTO and TOMITA (1966), and synchronized cross type. To observe the movement sequence of four limbs of children, an experiment was designed employing creeping, running and walking. The subject was instructed by his nurse to walk, then to run quickly. Lastly he was asked to creep like a baby. Total of 162 nursery school children from two to six years of age took part in this experiment. Movements were recorded by 16mm cinecamera (24 frames/sec) or video tape recorder (30 frames/sec).
The results were summarized as follows:
1) The grater part of children aged from two to three years showed "backward cross type" creeping. With the advance of age, coordination pattern was somewhat changed. More than a half of the children, five-year-old and six-year-old, showed" forward cross type" in creeping.
2) Some of the two-year-old children were unable to run. Sequential movements of four limbs of children who were able to run were expressed mostly as "forward cross type". Some of the five-year-old and six-year-old children showed "backward cross type" or "synchronized cross type" in running, and their steps and arm swings in running were somewhat greater than that of the children who showed "forward cross type ".
3) More than a half of the two-year-old children showed their progression without arm swing when they were instructed to walk. With the advance in age, the children who were able to walk with arm swing increased in number, and almost all of them showed "forward cross type" in walking. A few children showed "synchronized cross type" and no one showed "backward cross type" in walking. It seemed that the "forward cross type" walking which had been observed in matured walking of man were obtained in this early childhood.
