Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
Hum Mov Sci. 2021 Jun;77:102787. doi: 10.1016/j.humov.2021.102787. Epub 2021 Mar 30.
While there have been consistent behavioural reports of atypical hand rotation task (HRT) performance in adults with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), this study aimed to clarify whether this deficit could be attributed to specific difficulties in motor imagery (MI), as opposed to broad deficits in general mental rotation. Participants were 57 young adults aged 18-30 years with (n = 22) and without DCD (n = 35). Participants were compared on the HRT, a measure of MI, and the letter number rotation task (LNRT), a common visual imagery task. Only participants whose behavioural performance on the HRT suggested use of a MI strategy were included in group comparisons. Young adults with DCD were significantly less efficient compared to controls when completing the HRT yet showed comparable performance on the LNRT relative to adults with typical motor ability. Our data are consistent with the view that atypical HRT performance in adults with DCD is likely to be attributed to specific difficulties engaging in MI, as opposed to deficits in general mental rotation. Based on the theory that MI provides insight into the integrity of internal action representations, these findings offer further support for the internal modelling deficit hypothesis of DCD.
尽管已有研究报告称，发育性协调障碍（DCD）患者在进行非典型手旋转任务（HRT）时表现出行为异常，但本研究旨在明确这种缺陷是否归因于运动想象（MI）的特定困难，而不是一般心理旋转的广泛缺陷。参与者为 57 名年龄在 18-30 岁的年轻人，其中 DCD 患者（n=22）和无 DCD 患者（n=35）。参与者在 HRT、MI 测量和字母数字旋转任务（LNRT）上进行了比较，后者是一种常见的视觉想象任务。仅当 HRT 行为表现提示使用 MI 策略时，参与者才会被纳入组间比较。与具有典型运动能力的成年人相比，DCD 患者在完成 HRT 时的效率明显较低，但在 LNRT 上的表现与对照组相当。我们的数据与以下观点一致，即 DCD 患者在成人中出现的非典型 HRT 表现可能归因于 MI 参与的特定困难，而不是一般心理旋转的缺陷。基于 MI 提供了对内部动作表示完整性的洞察力的理论，这些发现为 DCD 的内部建模缺陷假说提供了进一步的支持。
