title: Visual guidance of interceptive actions in children with spastic unilateral cerebral palsy is influenced by the side of the lesion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the type of visual information used by children with spastic unilateral cerebral palsy (SUCP) in order to intercept a ball and to verify whether this information was dependent on the side of the lesion. More specifically, it was examined whether the interception was controlled on the basis of a time or a distance strategy, initiating the catch when the ball is at a fixed time interval or at a fixed distance from the point of interception.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three groups of children were included. Children with either a left sided (LHL) or a right sided lesion (RHL) and children without a lesion [typically developing (TD)] intercepted a ball from a conveyor belt. In order to intercept the ball successfully they had to walk and to reach for the ball at the interception point 4 m away.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children with LHL had a longer decision time and started their reach movement earlier. In 56% of the children with LHL a distance strategy was observed, while in the TD and the children with RHL predominantly a time strategy was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The side of the lesion influences the visual information used to initiate interceptive actions.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Research into Human Movement and Health, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK. p.vankampen@mmu.ac.uk
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: van Kampen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ledebt
authors.forename: F J A
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Deconinck
authors.forename: G J P
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Savelsbergh
mesh_terms: D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology