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Updated: Jul 18, 2026
Event-related Potentials During Target-response Tasks to Study Cognitive Processes of Upper Limb Use in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy
Published on: January 11, 2016
External timing constraints facilitate performance of everyday interceptive actions in children with Spastic
Annieck X C Ricken1, G J P Savelsbergh, S J Bennett
1Institute for Fundamental and Clinical Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Free University of Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 9, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Insights
Children with Spastic Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy (SHCP) coordinate walking and reaching differently with impaired versus non-impaired arms during interceptive actions. Adaptations in movement timing and kinematics were observed, especially under external timing constraints.
Area of Science:
- Motor Control
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Rehabilitation Science
Background:
- Spastic Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy (SHCP) affects motor function, particularly in one side of the body.
- Interceptive actions, like catching a ball, require complex coordination of walking and reaching.
- Understanding motor control in children with SHCP is crucial for developing effective interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how children with SHCP perform daily interceptive actions.
- To compare performance using impaired versus non-impaired arms.
- To examine the effects of internal versus external timing constraints on movement strategies.
Main Methods:
- Children with SHCP performed walking and intercepting tasks with stationary and moving balls.
- Reaching actions were performed with either the impaired or non-impaired arm.
- Kinematic data, including movement time and joint velocities, were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Children with SHCP showed distinct movement patterns between their impaired and non-impaired arms.
- When reaching with the impaired arm, children coordinated walking and reaching by increasing deceleration time.
- Under external timing constraints (moving ball), children exhibited reduced movement time and increased peak wrist velocity and elbow excursion.
Conclusions:
- Children with SHCP adapt their gait and reach kinematics to meet task demands, particularly under time pressure.
- These findings highlight the complex motor coordination strategies employed by children with SHCP during interceptive tasks.
- The study provides insights into how children with SHCP manage movement timing and coordination in daily activities.
Abstract:
We examined how children with Spastic Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy (SHCP) perform interceptive actions they experience in daily life. Children were required to walk towards and intercept a stationary ball or a moving ball, with either their impaired or non-impaired arm. In the stationary ball condition the child was free to determine the speed of their response (internal timing), whereas in the moving ball condition there was a restricted time available (external timing). It was found that the reach movements of the non-impaired arm were different to the impaired arm, and were characterized by some of the typical movement limitations imposed by SHCP. However, there was no evidence of increased contribution from trunk motion or a lengthening of reach movement time or deceleration time. Instead, there was a coordinated change with the walking kinematics, whereby the children spent proportionately more time slowing down as they approached the point of interception when reaching with the impaired arm. There were also several differences in the response when intercepting a moving ball compared to a stationary ball. When the timing constraints were imposed externally (moving ball) rather than internally (stationary ball), children reached with a reduced movement time and deceleration time, and an increased peak wrist velocity and elbow excursion. These adaptations to behaviour were necessary to deal with the restricted time available to make the interception in the moving ball condition compared to when the ball was stationary, and reveal how children with SHCP coordinate walking and reaching when performing natural interceptive actions.
