ABSTRACT
The understanding of motor development is based upon the integration of many behavior changes that take place within and across phases of development. Maturationalists stated that motor development was a linear stage-like progression, with the infant passing through a sequence in which there was an increase in more functional behavior. Theories of motor development utilize principles of dynamical systems, which attempt to explain how complex systems, for example developing humans, develop functionally appropriate behavior. In the sensorimotor phase, infants form and understand relationships between their bodies and the environment. When systems self-organize under the influence of an order parameter, they ‘settle onto’ one or a few modes of behavior that the system prefers over all possible modes. Complex systems seek preferred behavioral modes as a function of the interactions of their internal components and their sensitivity to external conditions.
