LOCOMOTION IMPROVES CHILDRENS SPATIAL SEARCH - A METAANALYTIC REVIEW

This meta-analysis quantitatively summarized the developmental influen ce and the effects of locomotor experience as well as the benefits of locomotor practice, locomotor assistance, and active searching pattern s on children's search performance. Based on specific criteria, a sear ch of a database and reference lists identified 19 studies, including 1,029 children (510 boys and 519 girls) from 4 to 144 months of age. O utcome measures of spatial performance were converted to 83 effect siz es that reflected the effects of specific experimental characteristics . Analyses of variance indicated that with older children, locomotor a ctivities are more important to their spatial searching. Locomotor sta tus, searching patterns, locomotor assistance, test conditions, and te st reliability were identified as moderator variables. In addition, lo comotor training significantly improved children's spatial search. The results supported the hypothesis chat children's development of spati al search skills is influenced by locomotor experience.