title: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) can adapt to perceptible and subliminal rhythm changes but are more variable.
abstract: Children with DCD demonstrate impairments in bimanual finger tapping during self-paced tapping and tapping in synchrony to different frequencies. In this study, we investigated the ability of children with DCD to adapt motorically to perceptible or subliminal changes of the auditory stimuli without a change in frequency, and compared their performance to typically developing controls (TDC). Nineteen children with DCD between ages 6-11years (mean age±SD=114±21months) and 17 TDC (mean age±SD=113±21months) participated in this study. Auditory perceptual threshold was established. Children initially tapped bimanually to an antiphase beat and then to either a perceptible change in rhythm or to gradual subliminal changes in rhythm. Children with DCD were able to perceive changes in rhythm similar to TDC. They were also able to adapt to both perceptible and subliminal changes in rhythms similar to their age- and gender- matched TDC. However, these children were significantly more variable compared with TDC in all phasing conditions. The results suggest that the performance impairments in bilateral tapping are not a result of poor conscious or sub-conscious perception of the auditory cue. The increased motor variability may be associated with cerebellar dysfunction but further behavioral and neurophysiological studies are needed.
authors.affiliation: Occupational Therapy Program, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA. Electronic address: renukaroche@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Renuka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roche
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Priya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Viswanathan
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology and Neurosciences and Cognitive Science Program, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Jane E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton, Hampshire, UK.
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Whitall
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009048:Motor Skills; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D013998:Time Perception
keywords: Auditory perceptual threshold; Bimanual tapping; Developmental coordination disorder; Motor adaptation; Motor skills; Timing