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Updated: Jun 15, 2026
A Method to Quantify Visual Information Processing in Children Using Eye Tracking
Published on: July 9, 2016
Prospective control abilities during visuo-manual tracking in children with 22q11.2 Deletion syndrome compared to
Katrijn Van Aken1, Ann Swillen, Marc Beirinckx
1Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, 3001 Heverlee (Leuven), Belgium. Katrijn.vanaken@faber.kuleuven.be
Insights
Children with 22q11.2 Deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) show impaired prospective control in visuo-manual tracking tasks. This deficit is specific to 22q11.2DS and not solely due to lower intellectual abilities.
Area of Science:
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Cognitive neuroscience
- Genetics
Background:
- 22q11.2 Deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) is associated with various neurodevelopmental challenges.
- Prospective control, the ability to anticipate and guide movements, is crucial for motor tasks.
- Understanding cognitive deficits in 22q11.2DS is vital for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prospective control abilities of children with 22q11.2DS.
- To determine if observed deficits are specific to 22q11.2DS or attributable to general intellectual ability.
- To explore potential underlying mechanisms for impaired motor control in this population.
Main Methods:
- A visuo-manual tracking task was administered to 21 children with 22q11.2DS and 21 age- and IQ-matched controls.
- Performance was assessed by measuring absolute time and distance errors during cursor tracking.
- The study analyzed performance across multiple feedback conditions to evaluate adaptation and learning.
Main Results:
- Children with 22q11.2DS exhibited significantly worse tracking performance compared to controls.
- Deficits in prospective control were evident, with higher error rates in the 22q11.2DS group.
- Neither group showed significant improvement across feedback trials, suggesting reliance on external feedback over internal prediction.
Conclusions:
- 22q11.2DS is associated with a specific deficit in prospective control, independent of intellectual functioning.
- Impaired visuo-motor adaptation, attention span, and cognitive flexibility may contribute to these difficulties.
- Individuals with 22q11.2DS may rely more heavily on feedback mechanisms due to challenges in internal movement representation.
Abstract:
To examine whether children with a 22q11.2 Deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) are able to use prospective control, 21 children with 22q11.2DS (mean age=9.6+/-1.9; mean FSIQ=73.05+/-10.2) and 21 control children (mean age=9.6+/-1.9; mean FSIQ=73.38+/-12.0) were asked to perform a visuo-manual tracking task in which they had to track a cursor rhythmically between 2 target zones. Children with 22q11.2DS performed worse than the age- and IQ-matched controls (higher absolute time and distance errors) suggesting that the 22q11.2DS group experiences an additional (syndrome specific) processing deficit that cannot be attributed to their lower intellectual abilities. The 22q11.2DS group neither the control group improved their tracking performance throughout five identical full feedback conditions of the tracking task possibly due to a slow visuo-motor adaptation process, a short span of attention and cognitive flexibility impairments. The results showed that both the 22q11.2DS group and the controls had difficulties anticipating the movement of the target (prospective control) and thus are assumed to rely more on feedback instead of on an internal representation of the movement.
