Abstract
Fine motor function develops into adulthood, but little is known about the differential effects of biological maturation and experience on speed and complex sequential performance of the hand. The objective of the study was to disentangle the differential effects of biological maturation, chronological age, and specific motor experience on fine motor skills of the hand during adolescence. To determine maturity levels, ultrasonic bone age (BA) was assessed in 225 adolescents (123 females; BA mean 13.4 ± 1.5 years, range: 9.9 to 17.9 years). The role of experience was evaluated based on chronological age (CA, mean 13.5 ± 1.2 years, range: 11.1 to 16.5 years), musical instrumental experience, and handedness. When specific musical instrumental experience is not present, biological maturation level is a significant predictor of complex fine motor performance, while chronological age predicts simple repetitive motor performance. When present, the amount of highly specific musical instrumental experience becomes the main predictor of sequential performance.
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Data availability
The data necessary to reproduce the analyses presented here are not publicly accessible but available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The analytic code necessary to reproduce the analyses presented in this paper is publicly accessible. The analyses presented here were not preregistered.
Abbreviations
- BA:
-
Bone age
- CA:
-
Chronological age
- FT:
-
Finger tapping
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Acknowledgements
We thank the generous and amazing parents, adolescents, and schools who participated in this project.The project was supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office of Hungary (Grants K-134370 and Advanced 153190 to I.K.), and by the Hungarian Research Network (HUN-REN-ELTE-PPKE Adolescent Development Research Group). It was made in the framework of the PPKE-BTK-KUT-23-1 project, with the support and funding provided by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Pázmány Péter Catholic University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
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I.K., A.B., F.G. and P.G. designed the experiment; G.O. recruited and screened participants, K.U. and Z.T. collected and analyzed bone age data, A.B. analyzed the finger tapping data; A.B., K.I. and L.J.F. drafted the paper, L.J.F. prepared the figures with the cooperation of I.K. and A.B., and all authors contributed to discussion and to the text. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Berencsi, A., Gombos, F., Fehér, L.J. et al. The contributions of biological maturity and experience to fine motor development in adolescence. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36220-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36220-y
