Motor learning in children with spina bifida: dissociation between performance level and acquisition rate.
The cerebellum is part of a neural circuit involved in procedural motor learning. We examined how congenital cerebellar malformations affect mirror drawing performance, a procedural learning task that involves learning to trace the outline of a star while looking at the reflection of the star in a mirror. Participants were 88 children with spina bifida myelomeningocele, a neural tube defect that results in lesions of the spinal cord, dysmorphology of the cerebellum, and requires shunt treatment for hydrocephalus, and 35 typically developing controls. Participants completed 10 trials in the morning and 10 trials following a 3-hr delay. Although children with spina bifida myelomeningocele were initially slower at tracing and made more errors than controls, all participants improved their performance of the task, as demonstrated by increased speed and accuracy across trials. Moreover, degree of cerebellar dysmorphology was not correlated with level of performance, rate of acquisition, or retention of mirror drawing. The results suggest that congenital cerebellar dysmorphology in spina bifida does not impair motor skill learning as measured by acquisition and retention of the mirror drawing task.
Edelstein
Kim
K
Brain and Behaviour Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Dennis
Maureen
M
Copeland
Kim
K
Frederick
Jon
J
Francis
David
D
Hetherington
Ross
R
Brandt
Michael E
ME
Fletcher
Jack M
JM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*