Dorsal and Ventral Stream Function in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Visual Cognition

Background:

• The dorsal stream is crucial for visuomotor, visuospatial, and visual attention functions.
• Sensitivity to global motion and static form are key dorsal and ventral stream functions, respectively.
• A 'dorsal stream vulnerability' is observed in neurodevelopmental disorders, with poorer global motion than global form sensitivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate global motion and global static form coherence sensitivity in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD).
• To compare visual processing in DCD with typically developing controls.
• To examine the relationship between motor impairment and visual sensitivity in DCD.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 'Ball in the Grass' psychophysical test to assess global motion and form sensitivity.
• Recruited 102 children with DCD (aged 5-12) and 69 typically developing controls.
• Measured motor impairment using the Movement-ABC (M-ABC) assessment.

Main Results:

• Children with DCD exhibited significantly impaired global motion sensitivity compared to controls (p = 0.002).
• No significant difference in global static form sensitivity was found between DCD and control groups (p = 0.695).
• Within the DCD group, motor impairment correlated linearly with global form sensitivity (p < 0.001) and quadratically with global motion sensitivity (p = 0.046).

Conclusions:

• DCD is associated with specific deficits in global motion processing, aligning with dorsal stream vulnerability.
• Global form processing is less affected in DCD, suggesting intact ventral stream function.
• Motor impairment severity differentially impacts global motion and form sensitivity, indicating distinct visual components contributing to DCD.