The perception of passive joint-movements by cerebral-palsied children

Luce's choice theory provided the psychophysical basis for investigating the ability of cerebral-palsied children to detect passive movement of the elbow joint. The method included testing "yes" responses when the forearm was moved, and "false-alarm" responses of "yes" when no arm movement had occurred. The children were tested with their eyes closed. The results showed that, in general, the children with spastic cerebral palsy had no deficits, or only very minor ones, in passive movement sensation. In contrast, the athetoid children had considerable deficits. It is suggested that the athetoid child is affected by a continuous barrage of irrelevant proprioceptive information and so finds difficulty in discriminating any particular proprioceptive cue.