The development and learning of the visual control of movement: An ecological perspective

We compare development and learning of the visual control of movement from an ecological perspective. It is argued that although the constraints that are imposed upon development and learning are vastly different, both are best characterised as a change towards the use of more useful and specifying optic variables. Implicit learning, in which awareness is drawn away from movement execution, is most appropriate to accomplish this change in optic variable use, although its contribution in development is more contentious. Alternatively, learning can also be affected by explicit processes. We propose that explicit learning would typically invoke vision for perception processes instead of the designated vision for action processes. It is for that reason that after explicit learning performance is more easily compromised in the face of pressure or disorders. We present a way to deal with the issue of explicit learning during infancy. © 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.