Visual guidance of interceptive actions in children with spastic unilateral cerebral palsy is influenced by the side of the lesion.
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.
van Kampen
P M
PM
Institute for Biomedical Research into Human Movement and Health, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK. p.vankampen@mmu.ac.uk
Ledebt
A
A
Deconinck
F J A
FJ
Savelsbergh
G J P
GJ
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