Department of Physical Education, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan; Research Center for Education and Mind Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan.
Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory of School of Kinesiology, University of Minnesota, USA.
Neuropsychologia. 2019 Apr;127:29-34. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.02.004. Epub 2019 Feb 7.
Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting the motor system, but it may also present with signs of somatosensory dysfunction. This study examined whether haptic perception, which relies on somatosensory afferents, is impaired in children with DCD. Haptic sensitivity and acuity were systematically quantified in children with DCD and contrasted to the performance of typically developing (TD) children and young adults (each group N = 20). All participants performed a curvature detection task measuring haptic sensitivity and a curvature discrimination task measuring haptic acuity. In both tasks, participants moved the index finger of their dominant hand over a surface contour and verbally indicated whether they could detect its curvature or discriminate between two curved contours. Based on their verbal responses haptic detection and discrimination thresholds were obtained. The main findings are as follows: First, the DCD group had significantly elevated haptic discrimination thresholds (lower haptic acuity) compared to both TD children and adult controls. Second, we found no evidence that haptic sensitivity is impaired in DCD. Third, haptic acuity significantly correlated with clinical motor measures, indicating that higher levels of haptic acuity were associated with higher motor abilities. We conclude that DCD may be associated with impaired haptic perception, which likely contributes to the observable fine motor deficits.
发展性协调障碍（DCD）是一种影响运动系统的神经发育障碍，但它也可能出现躯体感觉功能障碍的迹象。本研究探讨了依赖躯体感觉传入的触觉感知是否在 DCD 儿童中受损。触觉灵敏度和锐度在 DCD 儿童和典型发育（TD）儿童和年轻成年人（每组 N=20）中进行了系统量化，并与他们的表现进行了对比。所有参与者都执行了曲率检测任务，以测量触觉灵敏度，以及曲率辨别任务，以测量触觉锐度。在这两个任务中，参与者用他们的优势手的食指在表面轮廓上移动，并口头表示他们是否可以检测到其曲率或辨别两个弯曲轮廓。根据他们的口头反应，获得了触觉检测和辨别阈值。主要发现如下：首先，与 TD 儿童和成年对照组相比，DCD 组的触觉辨别阈值明显升高（触觉锐度较低）。其次，我们没有发现 DCD 中触觉灵敏度受损的证据。第三，触觉锐度与临床运动测量显著相关，表明较高的触觉锐度与较高的运动能力相关。我们得出结论，DCD 可能与触觉感知受损有关，这可能导致了可观察到的精细运动缺陷。
