title: Children with developmental coordination disorder demonstrate a spatial mismatch when estimating coincident-timing ability with tools.
abstract: Coincident timing or interception ability can be defined as the capacity to precisely time sensory input and motor output. This study compared accuracy of typically developing (TD) children and those with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) on a task involving estimation of coincident timing with their arm and various tool lengths. Forty-eight (48) participants performed two experiments where they imagined intercepting a target moving toward (Experiment 1) and target moving away (Experiment 2) from them in 5 conditions with their arm and tool lengths: arm, 10, 20, 30, and 40 cm. In Experiment 1, the DCD group overestimated interception points approximately twice as much as the TD group, and both groups overestimated consistently regardless of the tool used. Results for Experiment 2 revealed that those with DCD underestimated about three times as much as the TD group, with the exception of when no tool was used. Overall, these results indicate that children with DCD are less accurate with estimation of coincident-timing; which might in part explain their difficulties with common motor activities such as catching a ball or striking a baseball pitch.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of Texas at Arlington, United States. Electronic address: cacola@uta.edu.
authors.forename: Priscila
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caçola
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of Texas at Arlington, United States.
authors.forename: Melvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ibana
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of Texas at Arlington, United States.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ricard
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, United States.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gabbard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D065852:Spatial Memory; D065854:Spatial Navigation; D013998:Time Perception; D013996:Time and Motion Studies
keywords: Coincident timing; Developmental Coordination Disorder; Interception; Motor imagery; Tool