A "wait and learn" strategy of postural control learning in children?

This study compares the children and adult response to a novel postural challenge. One group of children (n=13, age 7-9) and one adult reference group (n=12 age 15-32) were subjected to vibration induced body sway and posturography with both open and closed eyes for 5 consecutive days. There was a gradual decrease of induced body sway over time in both groups (p< 0.001) between the subsequent trials, but only in the adult group was there a reduction of induced body sway over time within each trial (p< 0.05). The children had on a considerably less level of induced body sway when they started the second trial than they finished the first (p< 0.01). There appears to be a different approach of adaptation to a new postural challenge between children and adults.