Can Psychomotricity improve cognitive abilities in infants?

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether participating in a psychomotricity programme at an early age improves cognition. Thirty infants (11 to 22 months of age) participated in the study. The Merrill-Palmer-R test was administered before the intervention in order to measure the General Index of Development, Cognition and Motor Abilities. One group performed one session of psychomotricity per week, another group received two sessions per week, and a third group , the control, did not perform any sessions. After intervention, the test scales were administered again. The group who received two weekly sessions obtained higher scores in all measures after intervention compared to baseline. The results suggest that systematic practice of psychomotricity can improve general development and cognition in infants, and that it could thus be useful to implement this methodology in educative intervention.