title: Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder are deficient in a visuo-manual tracking task requiring predictive control.
abstract: The aim of this study was to examine how feedback, or its absence, affects children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) during a visuo-manual tracking task. This cross-sectional study included 40 children with DCD and 40 typically developing (TD) children between 6 and 10 years old. Participants were required to track a target moving along a circular path presented on a monitor by moving an electronic pen on a digitizing tablet. The task was performed under two visibility conditions (target visible throughout the trajectory and target intermittently occluded) and at two different target velocities (30° and 60° per second). Variables reflecting tracking success and tracking behavior within the target were compared between groups. Results showed that children with DCD were less proficient in tracking a moving target than TD children. Their performance deteriorated even more when the target was occluded and when the target speed increased. The mean tracking speed of the DCD group exceeded the speed at which the target rotated which was attributed to accelerations and decelerations made during tracking. This suggests that children with DCD have significant difficulties in visuo-manual tracking especially when visual feedback is reduced. It appears that their impaired ability to predict together with impairments in fine-tuning arm movements may be responsible for poor performance in the intermittently occluded visuo-manual tracking task.
authors.affiliation: University of Cape Town, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Suite F45: Old Main Building, Groote Schuur Hospital, Main Road, Observatory 7925, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Kinesiology, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Tervuursevest 101, Postbox 1501, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium. Electronic address: gillian.ferguson@uct.ac.za.
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Kinesiology, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Tervuursevest 101, Postbox 1501, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duysens
authors.affiliation: University of Cape Town, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Suite F45: Old Main Building, Groote Schuur Hospital, Main Road, Observatory 7925, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Kinesiology, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Tervuursevest 101, Postbox 1501, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: B C M
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Smits-Engelsman
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance
keywords: developmental coordination disorder; feed forward control; manual pursuit; predictive control; visuo-manual tracking