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Published on: December 7, 2018
Children with a learning disorder show prospective control impairments during visuomanual tracking
Dominique van Roon1, Karen Caeyenberghs, Stephan P Swinnen
1Research Center for Movement Control and Neuroplasticity, Department of Biomedical Kinesiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium. d.vanroon@cbs.nl
Insights
Children with learning disorders (LD) struggle with prospective motor control, showing deficits in visuomanual tracking and slower adaptation. This impacts their ability to predict and follow moving targets effectively.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Motor Control Research
Background:
- Learning disorders (LD) can affect various cognitive and motor functions.
- Prospective motor control, the ability to predict and guide movements, is crucial for tasks like tracking.
- Understanding motor control deficits in children with LD is essential for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prospective motor control abilities of children with learning disorders.
- To compare the visuomanual tracking performance of children with LD to a control group.
- To explore potential underlying mechanisms for observed performance differences.
Main Methods:
- Thirty children with learning disorders (LD) and an age/gender-matched control group participated.
- Participants performed a visuomanual tracking task involving a smoothly accelerating dot on a monitor.
- Performance was assessed using an electronic pen on a digitizer, measuring parameters like circle count, velocity, and submovements.
Main Results:
- Children with LD demonstrated significantly poorer tracking performance compared to controls.
- Specific deficits included fewer completed circles, lower maximum target velocity, and more submovements.
- Children with LD showed no improvement between the first and second trials, suggesting slower adaptation.
Conclusions:
- Children with LD exhibit impaired prospective motor control, leading to difficulties in visuomanual tracking.
- A reduced ability to predict target movement likely contributes to these tracking deficits.
- Slower visuomotor adaptation processes may hinder learning and performance improvement in children with LD.
Abstract:
To examine whether children with a learning disorder (LD) are able to use prospective motor control, 30 children with LD (mean age 8 years and 11 months) and an age- and gender-matched control group were asked to smoothly track an accelerating dot presented on a monitor by moving an electronic pen on a digitizer. Children with LD performed worse than controls: the number of drawn circles was smaller, the maximum target velocity lower, and the number of submovements was higher. It is suggested that a decreased ability to predict the movement of the target leads to impaired visuomanual tracking in children with LD. Furthermore, children with LD did not improve from the 1st to the 2nd trial, possibly as a result of slower visuomotor adaptation processes.
