title: The roles of motor activity and environmental enrichment in intellectual disability.
abstract: In people with intellectual disabilities, an enriched environment can stimulate the acquisition of motor skills and could partially repair neuronal impairment thanks to exploration and motor activity. A deficit in environmental and motor stimulation leads to low scores in intelligence tests and can cause serious motor skill problems. Although studies in humans do not give much evidence for explaining basic mechanisms of intellectual disability and for highlighting improvements due to enriched environmental stimulation, animal models have been valuable in the investigation of these conditions. Here, we discuss the role of environmental enrichment in four intellectual disabilities: Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), Down, Rett, and Fragile X syndromes.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , eCampus University , Novedrate , Italy.|b Department of Psychology , Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore , Milano , Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Giorgio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000209:etiology / Q000451:nursing* / Q000628:therapy*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Environmental enrichment; intellectual disability; motor skill