Variation and Variability: Key Words in Human Motor Development

Abstract

This article reviews developmental processes in the human brain and basic principles underlying typical and atypical motor development. The Neuronal Group Selection Theory is used as theoretical frame of reference. Evidence is accumulating that abundance in cerebral connectivity is the neural basis of human behavioral variability (ie, the ability to select, from a large repertoire of behavioral solutions, the one most appropriate for a specific situation). Indeed, typical human motor development is characterized by variation and the development of adaptive variability. Atypical motor development is characterized by a limited variation (a limited repertoire of motor strategies) and a limited ability to vary motor behavior according to the specifics of the situation (ie, limited variability). Limitations in variation are related to structural anomalies in which disturbances of cortical connectivity may play a prominent role, whereas limitations in variability are present in virtually all children with atypical motor development. The possible applications of variation and variability in diagnostics in children with or at risk for a developmental motor disorder are discussed.