Spatial knowledge of children with spina bifida in a virtual large-scale space

The spatial knowledge of 18 children with spina bifida and 18 healthy control children (matched according to sex, age, and verbal IQ) was investigated in a computer-simulated environment. All children had to learn a route through a virtual floor system containing 18 landmarks. Controlling for cognitive abilities, the results revealed that children with spina bifida showed impaired route knowledge but not an impaired landmark knowledge. Thus the results suggest that children with spina bifida are not impaired in all large-scale abilities similarly. The impairments of the children with spina bifida are more accentuated in more behaviour based measurements, which indicates a relation to the reduced mobility of the children with spina bifida.