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Visuomotor Integration Assessment Using Immersive Virtual Reality for Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Study
Minxin Cheng1, Alexa Craig2, Danielle E Levac3
1Department of Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Insights
Immersive virtual reality (VR) does not appear to be a reliable method for assessing visuomotor integration (VMI) in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Performance in VR was not consistently related to standard VMI test scores.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Visuomotor integration (VMI) impairments are prevalent in children with cerebral palsy (CP), affecting upper-extremity task performance.
- Current VMI assessments include the Beery-Buktenica test and computerized touchscreen methods.
- Immersive virtual reality (VR) offers potential for more ecologically valid VMI assessments but has not been evaluated in children with CP.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the utility of immersive VR for assessing VMI impairments in children with CP.
- To compare VR-based VMI assessment with traditional methods.
Main Methods:
- Twelve children with CP underwent the Beery-Buktenica VMI test.
- Participants performed eye-only, hand-only, and eye-hand VMI tasks on touchscreen and VR platforms (visually simple and complex).
- VMI performance was quantified by eye and hand endpoint accuracy and task completion time.
Main Results:
- No significant correlation was found between Beery-VMI scores and eye-hand task performance in visually simple VR.
- Participants showed reduced eye and hand accuracy in visually simple VR compared to touchscreen.
- Children with below-average Beery-VMI scores exhibited decreased eye accuracy and increased completion time in visually complex VR.
Conclusions:
- This pilot study suggests that immersive VR is not currently a suitable method for assessing VMI in children with CP.
- Further research is needed to explore VR's potential in this domain.
Background:
Visuomotor integration (VMI) impairments are common in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and can impact performance of goal-directed upper-extremity tasks. VMI impairment is clinically assessed using the gold-standard Beery-Buktenica test, whereas research paradigms use computerized assessments incorporating eye and hand movement tracking with touchscreen displays. Immersive virtual reality (VR) may potentially enable more ecologically valid VMI assessments through the inclusion of 3D tasks and visual distractions. However, the potential of immersive VR as a VMI assessment method in children with CP has not been evaluated. The current study aims to investigate how VR can assess VMI impairments in children with CP.
Methods:
Twelve children with CP completed the Beery-Buktenica VMI test and performed eye-only, hand-only and eye-hand VMI tasks in touchscreen, visually simple VR and visually complex VR conditions. Eye and hand endpoint accuracy and task completion time quantified VMI performance. We compared performance on each task and in each environment between children with below- versus above-average Beery-VMI scores.
Results:
There were no significant relationships between Beery-VMI score and eye-hand task performance in visually simple VR. Compared to the touchscreen task, participants demonstrated significantly reduced eye and hand endpoint accuracy in visually simple VR, with no difference between Beery-VMI groups. Children with below-average Beery-VMI scores decreased eye endpoint accuracy and increased trial completion time in visually complex VR.
Conclusion:
Findings from this pilot study do not support immersive VR as a VMI assessment method in children with CP.
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