L.A.T.E. project: analysis of the correlations between corporeality and cognitive processes in childhood1

This work aims to investigate the possibility of motor training of cognitive functions. The starting hypothesis is that the human capacity for verbal expression results from the evolution of the manual gesture. A sample of preschool children was subjected to motor activity tests and to two predictors of Nepsy II: the L4 test (of Phonological Processing, (which evaluates the functions of comprehension and expression) and the M3 test relating to visual-spatial memory. (which estimates aspects of memory and verbal and non-verbal learning, through short and long-term recall tests.) Than, it was investigated the existence of correlation between motor links and cognitive functions, crossing the results of the tests. Phonological processing seems to have a direct correlation with the greater skill in motor gestures. The study opens up new perspectives to investigate the link between action and language, as well as between motor disorders and important symptoms in autism.