Younger children's reliance on feedback control reflects a reliance rather than a preference: when adaptation is the only option (Launch ball), they do not adapt more and simply miss the target more¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Launch angle behavior in Launch ball matched initial angle behavior in Push ball across ages (no effect of task and no task × age-group interaction), showing younger children cannot use adaptation alone rather than choosing feedback. → Malone 2025

Evidence¶

Malone 2025¶

Malone, L. A., Hill, N. M., Tripp, H., Zipunnikov, V., Wolpert, D. M. & Bastian, A. J. (2025). The control of movement gradually transitions from feedback control to feedforward adaptation throughout childhood. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00304-7

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Repeated measures ANOVA comparing epochs of Push ball (participants aged 5+) and Launch ball (162 participants aged 5+) with task and age-group as main effects. The article concludes younger children "were just less successful at the task (i.e., they miss the target more)" when only adaptation was possible.

"There was no effect of task (F1571 = 0.007, p = 0.94) nor a task x age-group interaction (F6571 = 0.95,p = 0.46). As expected, there was a significant effect of age-group (F6571 =2 . 8 ,p = 0.01)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Age and Developmental Stage — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Initial-angle adaptation in a visuomotor rotation task is not adult-like until roughly 13–14 years of age, with younger children adapting less — related
• Children up to adolescence use more online feedback control (larger compensation angles) to counteract the perturbation, while overall target success is preserved across all ages — related
• After-effects of adaptation persist through washout in the youngest children, whereas older children and adults return toward baseline by the end of washout — related