Capacity to improve fine motor skills in Williams syndrome

Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) are known to have difficulties in carrying out fine motor movements; however, a detailed behavioural profile of WS in this domain is still missing. It is also unknown how great the capacity to improve these skills with focused and extensive practice is.

We studied initial performance and learning capacity in a sequential finger tapping (FT) task in WS and in typical development. Improvement in the FT task has been shown to be sleep dependent. WS subjects participating in the current study have also participated in earlier polysomnography studies, although not directly related to learning.

WS participants presented with great individual variability. In addition to generally poor initial performance, learning capacity was also greatly limited in WS. We found indications that reduced sleep efficiency might contribute to this limitation.

Estimating motor learning capacity and the depth of sleep disorder in a larger sample of WS individuals might reveal important relationships between sleep and learning, and contribute to efficient intervention methods improving skill acquisition in WS.