BODILY BASIS OF THOUGHT

York College, New York NY

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The proposed study is an investigation of the development of body- gestural abilities in preschool and school age children. Little is known about how children learn to use their gestural and postural abilities to express concepts and ideas through movement. The study has two related aspects: (a) to understand the development of the objective features of movement, including motor logic, motor organization, kinesthetic awareness, and kinesthetic memory. These components are hypothesized to be at the core of cognitive abilities central to movement; and (b) To understand the development of subjective features of movement, including repleteness (i.e., volume, line, and movement texture), exemplification (i.e., the ability to convey rhythm or shape through movement), expression or representation (i.e., the ability to use movement to stand in place of another), and composition (i.e., the ability to create a spatial design(s) with the body). These latter components enable children to express concepts and ideas through movement and are hypothesized to be central to movement's aesthetic qualities. The proposed study has the following expected research outcomes in terms of the following three questions: (a) How does movement evolve in children learning dance? (B) When do children begin to display expressiveness in their movement and become sensitive to aesthetic properties? and (c) How do children use their kinesthetic sense and memory, and motor logic in organizing and learning increasingly more complex movement patterns?