Bhoyroo Ranila, Hands Beth, Wilmut Kate, Hyde Christian, Wigley Adam
Institute for Health Research, University of Notre Dame Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
Institute for Health Research, University of Notre Dame Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2019 Aug;199:102902. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102902. Epub 2019 Aug 9.
Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) demonstrate inefficient motor planning ability with a tendency to opt for non-optimal planning strategies. Motor imagery can provide an insight to this planning inefficiency, as it may be a strategy for improving motor planning and thereby motor performance for those with DCD. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of end-state-comfort (ESC) and the minimal rotation strategy using a grip selection task in children with DCD with and without motor imagery instructions. Boys with (n = 14) and without DCD (n = 18) aged 7-12 years completed one, two and three colour sequences of a grip selection (octagon) task. Two conditions were examined; a Motor Planning (MP) condition requiring only the performance of the task and a Motor Imagery and Planning (MIP) condition, which included an instruction to imagine performing the movement before execution. For the MP condition, children with DCD ended fewer trials in ESC for the one (p = 0.001) and two colour (p = 0.002) sequences and used a minimal rotation strategy more often than those without DCD. For the MIP condition, the DCD group significantly increased their use of the ESC strategy for the one colour sequences (p = 0.014) while those without DCD improved for the two colour (p = 0.008) sequences. ESC level of the DCD group on the MIP condition was similar to those without DCD at baseline for all colour sequences. Motor imagery shows potential as a strategy for improving motor planning in children with DCD. Implications and limitations are discussed.
患有发育性协调障碍（DCD）的儿童表现出低效的运动计划能力，倾向于选择非最优的计划策略。运动想象可以揭示这种计划效率低下的情况，因为它可能是一种改善运动计划从而提高DCD患者运动表现的策略。在本研究中，我们使用抓握选择任务，调查了有无运动想象指导的DCD儿童中终态舒适（ESC）和最小旋转策略的发生率。7至12岁患有DCD（n = 14）和未患DCD（n = 18）的男孩完成了抓握选择（八边形）任务的一、二和三个颜色序列。研究了两种情况；一种是仅要求执行任务的运动计划（MP）情况，另一种是运动想象与计划（MIP）情况，其中包括在执行前想象执行动作的指导。对于MP情况，患有DCD的儿童在一（p = 0.001）和两个颜色（p = 0.002）序列的ESC试验结束次数较少，并且比未患DCD的儿童更频繁地使用最小旋转策略。对于MIP情况，DCD组在一个颜色序列中显著增加了对ESC策略的使用（p = 0.014），而未患DCD的儿童在两个颜色（p = 0.008）序列中有所改善。在MIP情况下，DCD组在所有颜色序列的基线时的ESC水平与未患DCD的儿童相似。运动想象显示出作为改善DCD儿童运动计划策略的潜力。讨论了其意义和局限性。
