Individually-typological variants of age development as a manifestation of heterochrony in the dynamics of motor abilities and intelligence

The article presents the results of experimental studies of the development of the dynamics of motor abilities and intelligence on three samples of schoolboys: sixth-, eighth- and tenth-graders. The author investigated the motor abilities (strength, high-speed capabilities and endurance) and intelligence: sixth-graders by the intellectual test (GIT) (M.K Akimova et al.), eighth- and tenth-graders by P. Amthauer's Test (in the adaptation of L.A. Yasyukova). The results show that the orientation of relations of the dynamics of motor abilities and intelligence changes in the process of growing. Comparison of the correlations shows that, firstly, the sixth-graders' level of general intelligence, revealed at the beginning of the school year, is positively correlated with the annual dynamics of intelligence, while for the eighth- and tenth-graders, on the contrary, these figures correlate negatively. Secondly, the level of general intelligence at the beginning and at the end of the academic year of the sixth-graders positively correlates with the general physical development. In turn, older boys' indicators of general intelligence are negatively correlated with this indicator. Thirdly, the sixth-graders' general intelligence negatively correlates with the dynamics of the general physical development; on the contrary, the eighth- and tenth-graders' annual dynamics of general intelligence is positively correlated with the dynamics of general physical development. The division of students into two groups depending on the dynamics of intelligence revealed that the sixth-graders' high dynamics of intelligence manifests itself against the background of relatively low dynamics of physical development. On the contrary, the eighth and tenth-graders show high dynamics of intelligence and higher dynamics of physical development. Therefore, the growth rate of motor and mental abilities are the same in young adulthood, whereas in adolescence there is a pronounced discrepancy in the rates of their development. These facts and the results of previous studies allow concluding that there are individually-typological variants of age development, strikingly manifested in adolescence and reflected in the fact that some schoolchildren with more intensive development of motor abilities have relatively low dynamics of intellectual development, while others, on the contrary, with low dynamics of general physical development have high dynamics of intelligence development. Differences in the level of intelligence in adolescence is partly a consequence of an early or late intensive mental development. It is obvious that the contradictions of adolescence, while increasing the rate of physical development, require special attention in order to create optimal conditions for development of motor abilities and intelligence.

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