Development of kinesthetic and spatial basis of movement in urban and rural populations

Intro duc tion. The child’ s sensorimotor system is currently considered as a dynamic self-organizing system formed under the influence of both external and internal factors. This opens up broad opportunities for studying the developmental features of various components of motor function in childhood under different environmental conditions. In the structure of voluntary movement, the kinesthetic and spatial factors and their role in the formation of movements and actions in ontogenesis are of great interest, depending on the child’s population and the influence of the environment. In recent years, material has been accumulated indicating differences in the cognitive development of some features of the brain organization in urban and rural children. The aim. T o study the development featur es of kinesthetic and spatial praxis in urban and rur al populations of childr en. Ma t erials and methods. The study included 1362 urban and 891 rur al children aged 4–10 y ears w ere examined , including 1045 boys and 1208 girls . The stat e of motor function was studied as part of a comprehensive screening neuropsychological examination. Standard procedures for using tests for kinesthetic and spatial organization of movements were used: Finger Position Test and Head’sTest. R esults. The featur es of development of kinesthetic and spatial f ac t ors of movement or ganization in populations of urban and rural children were revealed. At the same time, an advantage in development of kinesthetic and spatial components of motor function was revealed in rural children, where their formation was distinguished by greater stability and intensity than in the urban population. Conclusion. The activ e proc ess of formation of kinesthetic and spatial organization of movements within the studied age period ended earlier in the rur al population than in the population of urban childr en.