Internal representation of movement in children with developmental coordination disorder: a mental rotation task

Abstract

Recent studies show that children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have difficulties in generating an accurate visuospatial representation of an intended action, which are shown by deficits in motor imagery. This study sought to test this hypothesis further using a mental rotation paradigm. It was predicted that children with DCD would not conform to the typical pattern of responding when required to imagine movement of their limbs. Participants included 16 children with DCD and 18 control children; mean age for the DCD group was 10 years 4 months, and for controls 10 years. The task required children to judge the handedness of single‐hand images that were presented at angles between 0° and 180° at 45° intervals in either direction. Results were broadly consistent with the hypothesis above. Responses of the control children conformed to the typical pattern of mental rotation: a moderate trade‐off between response time and angle of rotation. The response pattern for the DCD group was less typical, with a small tradeoff function. Response accuracy did not differ between groups. It was suggested that children with DCD, unlike controls, do not automatically enlist motor imagery when performing mental rotation, but rely on an alternative object‐based strategy that preserves speed and accuracy. This occurs because these children manifest a reduced ability to make imagined transformations from an egocentric or first‐person perspective.

A comparison of motor imagery performance in children with spastic hemiplegia and developmental coordination disorder

“…DCD is not associated with any known neurological condition and its aetiology currently remains unexplained. However, a series of papers have provided evidence that suggests a deficit in the ability to utilise motor imagery effectively may underlie some of the motor impairment difficulties observed in children with this diagnosis (Deconinck, Spitaels, Fias, & Lenoir, 2009;Maruff, Wilson, Trebilcock, & Currie, 1999;Williams, Thomas, Maruff, Butson, & Wilson, 2006;Williams, Thomas, Maruff, & Wilson, 2008;Wilson et al, 2004;Wilson, Maruff, Ives, & Currie, 2001). Interestingly, a recent line of research has also begun examining whether motor imagery deficits may also be apparent in adolescents with hemiplegia, with these deficits adding to their already obvious motor execution difficulties (Mutsaarts, Steenbergen, & Bekkering, 2007;Steenbergen, van Nimwegen, & Crajé, 2007).…”

The crucial role of the predictability of motor response in visuomotor deficits in very preterm children at school age

“…Together, these findings illustrate that unpredictability of the required motor response crucially underpins poorer visuomotor performance of very preterm children compared with those born at term, regardless of motor abilities and DCD status. Given our findings that visuomotor problems are particularly present in unpredictable, non-structured circumstances, insensitive to an increase in workload, we speculate that an inability to generate accurately and use internal models of motor planning and continuous motor control, as described for children with DCD, 10 also plays a crucial role in the visuomotor problems of very preterm children with and without a research diagnosis of DCD. Importantly, these findings suggest that visuomotor performance of very preterm children free of motor impairment may potentially benefit from the same interventions as those developed for children with DCD, 22 given that similar underpinnings of visuomotor deficits appear to be present for both groups.…”

“…By having internal models or representations of intended actions, predicting the outcome of movements can be processed much quicker in the brain than when a person has to rely on relatively slow sensory-feedback information, thereby providing efficiency to the brain's motor system. 8 Recent studies suggest that visuomotor problems in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are related to specific 'internal modelling deficits', 9,10 which limit their ability to generate accurately and use internal models of motor planning and continuous motor control. Interestingly, the incidence of DCD in very preterm children is on average more than six times higher than in term peers.…”

“…16 Visuomotor performance was determined using a newly developed computerized task, based on well-established models of motor planning. 8,10 The task was adapted and extended from so-called tracking and pursuit tasks that are widely used and validated for studying visuomotor performance in a variety of clinical populations. [17][18][19] During the task, children followed the trail of a moving caterpillar with the index finger of their preferred hand.…”

On the relation between spontaneous perspective taking and other visuospatial processes

“…Interestingly, later studies have shown that, at least in participants with motoric deficits, different strategies might also be used when body part stimuli are rotated (Steenbergen, Nimwegen, & van Craje, 2007;Tomasino & Rumiati, 2004;Wilson et al, 2004). Wilson et al, for example, observed that children with a developmental coordination disorder displayed an RT pattern for right-/lefthand decisions that was more consistent with an object-based than with a motor imagery strategy.…”