THE STUDY OF SPATIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDREN WITH DIFFERENT DEGREES OF INTERHEMISPHERIC INTERACTION

The paper discusses the results of neuropsychological tasks aimed at the study of spatial representations of primary school children with different degrees of interhemispheric interaction (II). The degree of II formation was assessed using bimanual motor tests. The dependence of the state of interhemispheric interaction and spatial representations on such factors as age, sex, manual preferences are traced. The research was performed in the research laboratory of the Faculty of Special and Inclusive Education at the Armenian State Pedagogical University after Kh. Abovyan and Armenian state institute of physical culture and sport. A total of 73 children aged between 8 and 11 years participated in the study. We emphasize that we were interested in which of the various spatial components of different mental functions showed maximum dependence on the state of II in the motor sphere. To answer the set questions 73 children were examined in general education schools of Yerevan. Their ages ranged from 8 to 11 years old. 12 children from the examined group had distinct manifestations of left-handedness or ambidextrousness; the rest of the children were right-handed. To analyse the age dynamics of the state of spatial representations and the degree of formation of interhemispheric interaction, the children were divided into 2 age subgroups: 8-9 years old (31 people), 10-11 years old (42 people). Such division was connected with the fact that these age periods are all without exception extremely significant for the formation of the aspects of the organization of brain work in general. Thus, it is in 8-9 years old that the mechanisms of interhemispheric transfer are already in full force, the main motor and sensory asymmetries are stabilized, and the predominant control of the right or left hemisphere over the course of a particular mental process at the operational level is formed. The age of 10-11 years is, according to many authors, crucial for the formation of a stable individual II modus and for "microstructural changes in the ensemble organization of the frontal area". In adolescence the anterior parts of the corpus callosum (CC) actively mature, providing CC at the level of the frontal lobes, and intensive rearrangements in the work of the dominant hemisphere of the brain continue. In addition to age indicators, we also analysed differences in the degree of CC formation and in the state of spatial representations in children of different sexes, academic performance, and in children with different manual preferences. The following results were obtained. Reciprocal coordination disorders were detected in 41% of the children who performed the test. Among the detected disorders, failures in the left hand or lagging of the left hand predominated. These symptoms could vary in severity and stability: in some subjects they were observed only at the initial stages of task performance or occurred during exhaustion, while in others they were stable. Among the detected disorders, failures in the left hand or lagging of the left hand predominated. These symptoms could vary in severity and stability: in some subjects they were observed only at the initial stages of task performance or occurred during exhaustion, while in others they were stable. Failures in both hands r sequential execution of movements with the right and left hands were much less frequent. Thus, our results suggest that in left-handed schoolchildren characterized by significant difficulties in the formation of the spatial sphere and interhemispheric relations, the state of spatial praxis and projective representations is closely related to the qualitative features of CC at the level of both posterior and anterior brain regions.