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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

south Indian, school children, environmental complexity, cortical development

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Neuroscience

Abstract

Previous neurological studies have found the degree of environmental complexity influences the acquisition and development of motor skills in human infants as well as animal models. During a critical period in human development, which is believed to span the first 6-10 years for human visual-motor development, neurons grow and solidify appropriate connections. Signals sent from cell to cell are insulated by additional protective cells in a process called myelination. These postnatal cognitive developments are influenced by sensory input and experience. It appears that deprivation of appropriate stimuli in a subject’s surroundings at this time results in decreased cognitive development as inferred by a trend of decreased performance in various neurological examinations. This study analyzed the performance of 74 south-Indian children from varying socioeconomic backgrounds between the ages of 5 and 6 on the Bender Gestalt and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure drawing and copying tasks. Scores were then compared to the number of toys available in the household. Results show a small positive correlation between the number of toys and performance on the drawing and copying tasks. Latent variables are still present in the data and merit further investigation of these results.

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