title: Parietal dysfunction in developmental coordination disorder: a functional MRI study.
abstract: We aimed to detect the mechanisms underlying clumsiness in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of a visuomotor task was performed in 12 boys with DCD and 12 healthy boys (controls) (9-12 years old). They tracked a horizontally moving target by manipulating a joystick. With regard to the behavioural performance, DCD children were significantly less accurate than control children. The comparison of the activation maps showed that the brain activity in the left posterior parietal cortex and left postcentral gyrus was lower in the DCD children than in the control children. These results suggest that the dysfunction of these regions may be the neural underpinnings of impaired motor skill in DCD children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Brain Science, Osaka Medical College, National Institute of Advanced, Industrial Science and Technology, Osaka, Japan. dbs003@art.osaka-med.ac.jp <dbs003@art.osaka-med.ac.jp>
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kashiwagi
authors.forename: Sunao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iwaki
authors.forename: Yoshifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Narumi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamai
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000254:growth & development / Q000503:physiopathology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology