Children with developmental coordination disorder display atypical interhemispheric connectivity during conscious and

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Updated: Oct 21, 2026

EEG Mu Rhythm in Typical and Atypical Development
11:50

EEG Mu Rhythm in Typical and Atypical Development

Published on: April 9, 2014

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Marija Pranjić1,2, Jason Leung3, Ka Lun Tam3

  • 1Music and Health Research Collaboratory, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. marija.pranjic@mail.utoronto.ca.

Scientific Reports
|August 28, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) automatically adjust movements to rhythmic cues, even subconsciously. Planned adjustments occur only with conscious awareness of large changes, with DCD impacting neural connectivity.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Auditory-Motor Integration

Background:

  • Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) struggle with perception-action coupling, particularly in tasks needing predictive timing.
  • Understanding automatic vs. planned motor adjustments and conscious vs. subconscious processing is crucial for DCD research.
  • Auditory-motor synchronization and the role of rhythmic entrainment in DCD require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how awareness influences auditory-motor adjustments to rhythmic perturbations in children with and without DCD.
  • To determine if children's motor synchronization is automatic or planned, and if adjustments are conscious or subconscious.
  • To examine the neural underpinnings of these adjustment strategies using electroencephalography (EEG).

Main Methods:

  • Thirty-two children (aged 7-11), including those with DCD and typically developing (TD) peers (with/without musical training), participated.
  • Participants' auditory-motor adjustments to small and large rhythmic perturbations were assessed.
  • Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to analyze functional connectivity patterns during adjustments.

Main Results:

  • All children automatically adjusted to small, consciously undetectable perturbations using predictive timing.
  • Planned adjustments, shifting to reactive strategies, occurred only with conscious detection of large perturbations (Δ 20%).
  • Children with DCD exhibited reduced interhemispheric connectivity during planned adjustments and similar neural patterns across conditions, yet benefited from rhythmic entrainment.

Conclusions:

  • Children's motor adjustments to auditory rhythms involve both automatic and planned strategies, influenced by conscious awareness and perturbation magnitude.
  • DCD is associated with altered neural connectivity during planned adjustments, but rhythmic entrainment remains beneficial.
  • Findings support the therapeutic potential of auditory/rhythm-based interventions for children with DCD, with musical training enhancing auditory-perceptual timing and neural coherence.

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