Psychophysiology and Spatial Awareness in Children
Psychophysiology
Psychophysiology is a discipline within Neuroscience. It studies the biology of behavior and psychological processes. Also known as Psychobiology, it examines the organism as an integrated whole.
Rigorously defined, it is the scientific study of physiological correlates accompanying behavior, explaining bodily changes in response to situations or stimuli. This study helps develop a comprehensive understanding of humans.
Spatial Awareness
Spatial awareness, including left-right notions and body schema, is crucial for imaginative and creative intelligence. It can be stimulated in young children with age-appropriate exercises.
Spatial Relations
Spatial relations include right-left, top-down, and front-back. Newborns exhibit unconscious movements and reflexes, not implying spatial orientation.
As children become aware of their bodies, they coordinate movements and organize space. Understanding spatial acquisition requires considering body perception and evolution. Children organize personal and social spaces based on their needs and abilities.
- Personal space: Occupied by one’s body and internal spaces.
- Social space: Shared space with others.
According to Bara (1975), children understand space relative to their bodies. In areas with more people or objects, they organize personal and social spaces, learning their body’s possibilities. Experiences improve spatial notions and vocabulary.
Temporal Organization
Piaget noted that organized time is complex for children as it cannot be captured by senses. Time is linked to space through hearing, vision, and kinesthesia.
Children internalize organized time through actions, movements, speed, and results.
Psychophysiology
Psychophysiology studies the relationships between nervous, endocrine, and muscular processes with mental activities and behavior.
Evolution of Temporal Organization
- Up to 4 years: No organized time or order. Duration: Can recognize a week.
- 6 years: Understands morning/evening.
- 7 years: Indicates the month.
- 8 years: Indicates the year.
- 9-12 years: Masters estimated duration and time.
To help children master time, teach temporal aspects:
- Notion of time: before-during-after
- Notion of periodicity: regular intervals between actions
- Notion of duration: time passage
- Notion of succession: subsequent events
- Notion of intervals: time between actions
- Notion of speed: fast or slow
- Notion of regular cadence: allows rhythmic movements
Rhythm
Rhythm involves three factors in temporal work:
- Each child’s pace
- Collective group rhythm
- External element rhythm
Working with these factors helps children learn rhythm personally and collectively. Time perception occurs on two levels:
- Qualitative: Perception of order and organization
- Quantitative: Perception of duration
Rhythmic exercises are economical, utilizing effort and relaxation efficiently. They become easier to execute when rhythmic.
Educational exercises involve children’s attention, materializing successive time and variations.
Two important planes in rhythm are:
- Perceptive plane: Sense of rhythm (physiological sense), rhythmic activity
- Representative plane: Sense of time relationships (psychological sense), organizing time relations
These distinct elements can coexist.
Ontogenesis of Time Arrangements
Children’s motor opportunities grow and diversify with age. Motor control depends on nerve and muscle structures influencing motor activities, crucial during childhood development.
Newborns exhibit spontaneous motor activity and identifiable reflexes (embrace, grasp, righting, tonic neck). In the first months, biological function and impulsive reflex motor activity dominate.
After three months, stimulus reactions diminish, favoring voluntary sensorimotor behavior. Over time, children’s motor potential grows with learning and development.