Motor coordination dynamics underlying graphic motion in 7- to 11-year-old children

Using concepts and tools of a dynamical system approach in order to understand motor coordination underlying graphomotor skills, the aim of the current study was to establish whether the basic coordination dynamics found in adults is already established in children at elementary school, when handwriting is trained and eventually acquired. In the study, 45 children and 9 adults volunteered to copy two series of 13 ellipsoid shapes. These shapes were generated by manipulating the relative phase between 0° and 180° of two orthogonal oscillators in two orientations. Findings showed that although children from an early age onward and adults reproduced straight lines precisely (i.e., 0° and 180°), the former drew ellipsoid shapes in a less eccentric fashion than the latter (i.e., ～90° in all children rather than ～60° and 120° in adults). This tendency to write in a rounder fashion persists until 11 years of age, suggesting that the coordination dynamics underlying graphomotor skills and tentatively shaping the coordinated activity involved in adult handwriting appears only later, probably due to increasing constraints on speed.     

L’internalisation des stéréotypes chez les « petits » fonctionnaires : impact du contact avec le public et du prestige perçu

This paper focuses on the internalization of stereotypes among French office workers in the lower category (category C). More precisely, we investigated the impact of two independent factors on this internalization of stereotypes: the perceived external prestige and public contact. Results obtained using questionnaires completed by 175 office workers have mainly showed that, in accordance with previous studies, the external prestige perceived influence significantly the internalization of stereotypes. But, contrary to previous studies, the frequency of contacts with the public has no impact on the internalization of stereotypes in our sample. Our results invite furter work on this population of office employees who is, paradoxically, increasingly confronted with stereotypes but subject of very few studies.