title: Intact procedural motor sequence learning in developmental coordination disorder.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to explore the possibility of a procedural learning deficit among children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). We tested 34 children aged 6-12 years with and without DCD using the serial reaction time task, in which the standard keyboard was replaced by a touch screen in order to minimize the impact of perceptuomotor coordination difficulties that characterize this disorder. The results showed that children with DCD succeed as well as control children at the procedural sequence learning task. These findings challenge the hypothesis that a procedural learning impairment underlies the difficulties of DCD children in acquiring and automatizing daily activities. We suggest that the previously reported impairment of children with DCD on the serial reaction time task is not due to a sequence learning deficit per se, but rather due to methodological factors such as the response mode used in these studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Behavior and Cognition, Neuropsychology Unit, University of Liège, Belgium. c.lejeune@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lejeune
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Catale
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Willems
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Meulemans
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology*