Young Adults With Developmental Coordination Disorder Adopt a Different Visual Strategy During a Hazard Perception Test for Cyclists

Abstract

Cycling in traffic requires a combination of motor and perceptual skills while interacting with a dynamic and fast-changing environment. The inferior perceptual-motor skills in individuals with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) may put them at a higher risk for accidents. A key skill to navigate in traffic is to quickly detect hazardous situations. This perceptual-cognitive skill was investigated in young adults with DCD using simulated traffic situations in a hazard perception test in cycling. Nine individuals with DCD (age: 23.0 ± 3.8) and nine typically developing (TD) individuals (age: 24.6 ± 3.5) participated in the study and completed the test while their gaze was tracked using a remote eye tracking device. A questionnaire was used to determine cycling experience and the perception of cycling and anticipation skill in traffic. Despite a longer period to master the motor skill of cycling, individuals with DCD reported to be able to safely cycle in traffic around the same age as TD young adults. In the hazard perception test, individuals with DCD fixated the hazards later, less frequently and for a shorter duration than the TD participants, however, the participants with DCD did not wait longer to react to the hazard than the TD participants. Interestingly, individuals with DCD rated the traffic situations in the test as significantly more dangerous than the TD participants. In conclusion, the differences exposed in the hazard perception test may imply an increased risk of accidents in individuals with DCD. In further research and practice it is recommended that both the motor and the perceptual aspects of cycling are addressed.

White Matter Changes With Rehabilitation in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…These motor difficulties can lead to higher risks of anxiety, emotional and behavioral problems, low self-esteem (Hellgren et al, 1994;Green et al, 2006;Pratt and Hill, 2011;Lingam et al, 2012;Hill and Brown, 2013;Zwicker et al, 2013;Crane et al, 2017;Harrowell et al, 2017;Li et al, 2018), as well as physical consequences such as obesity and poorer physical fitness (Cairney et al, 2005(Cairney et al, , 2010Rivilis et al, 2011;Cairney and Veldhuizen, 2013). A well-known and common co-occurrence of DCD is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), exacerbating motor and functional difficulties in children (Kadesjo and Gillberg, 1999;Piek et al, 1999;Dewey et al, 2000Dewey et al, , 2002Rasmussen and Gillberg, 2000;Pitcher et al, 2003;Martin et al, 2006;Watemberg et al, 2007;Fliers et al, 2009;Barkley, 2014;Blank et al, 2019) and increasing the risk of psychological distress (Piek et al, 2007;Missiuna et al, 2014), antisocial behavior (Rasmussen and Gillberg, 2000), and peer victimization (Dewey and Volkovinskaia, 2018). Motor problems of children with DCD with or without ADHD have been attributed to attention deficits and lack of inhibition (Kaiser et al, 2015;Fong et al, 2016;Thornton et al, 2018).…”

Studies on Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder in the Past 20 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis via CiteSpace

“…Therefore, new studies were conducted for “ adolescents/adults ” in the latest recommendations in 2019 to update the recommendations in 2012 ( 35 ). In recent years, many case–control and longitudinal studies have been reported ( 39 , 40 ), and it will become one of the hot spots in this field in the future.…”

Self-Reported Cycling Performance and Impact on Falls in Persons With Bilateral Vestibulopathy

“…In Flanders, for example, 15% of all trips are done by bicycle (Nuyts & Van Hout 2007). This skill does not only require the correct perceptual-motor processes but also requires cognitive skills, as a cyclist should be able to safely assess the environment at all times (Warlop et al 2021). Working memory and attention were identified as critical processes to correctly interpret information about the environment, and to form correct situation awareness (Endsley 1995).…”