Associations between vision anomalies and sensorimotor processes in children aged 7-16 years

Vision plays an important role in the normal motor development of children. Increased understanding of this relationship is important for providing appropriate advice in a clinical setting.

Growing evidence indicates that vision anomalies are associated with reduced motor performance in children. This study investigated whether feedback loop noise, induced by common vision anomalies, adversely affects sensorimotor processing in children aged 7 to 16.

Sensorimotor function was measured in 409 children aged 7-8, 10-11, and 15-16 years as part of an annual school vision programme. The vision programme included assessment of visual acuity, binocular vision and refraction. Aiming and steering sensorimotor performance were measured using a validated tool that utilised a stylus on a tablet computer. Analysis of covariance models tested whether visual function (binocular near visual acuity, amplitude of accommodation, near point of convergence) and refractive error, along with age, contributed to the variance in aiming and steering performance.

Sensorimotor performance showed considerable variation within each age group. The simplest models that captured aiming variance included age and refractive error (R² = 0.42, F[3, 402] = 99.04, p < 0.001), whilst age and accommodative function contributed towards steering variance (R² = 0.22, F[3, 400] = 38.72, p < 0.001).

Hyperopic refractive errors and reduced accommodative function affect the ability to perform sensorimotor transformations, negatively impacting age-expected manual control skill levels. Longitudinal research is needed to test whether correcting hyperopia can: (i) improve the development of sensorimotor processing; (ii) produce beneficial changes in motor skill abilities.