Benassi Mariagrazia, Frattini Davide, Garofalo Sara, Bolzani Roberto, Pansell Tony
Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 27;16(4):e0250598. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250598. eCollection 2021.
Patients with mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) often report difficulties in motor coordination and visuo-spatial attention. However, the consequences of mTBI on fine motor and visuo-motor coordination are still not well understood. We aimed to evaluate whether mTBI had a concomitant effect on fine motor ability and visuo-motor integration and whether this is related to visual perception and visuo-spatial attention impairments, including patients at different symptoms stage. Eleven mTBI patients (mean age 22.8 years) and ten healthy controls participated in the study. Visuo-motor integration of fine motor abilities and form recognition were measured with the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration test, motion perception was evaluated with motion coherence test, critical flicker fusion was measured with Pocket CFF tester. Visuo-spatial was assessed with the Ruff 2 & 7 Selection Attention Test. mTBI patients showed reduced visuo-motor integration, form recognition, and motor deficits as well as visuo-spatial attention impairment, while motion perception and critical flicker fusion were not impaired. These preliminary findings suggest that the temporary brain insults deriving from mTBI compromise fine motor skills, visuomotor integration, form recognition, and visuo-spatial attention. The impairment in visuo-motor coordination was associated with speed in visuo-attention and correlated with symptoms severity while motor ability was correlated with time since concussion. Given the strong correlation between visuomotor coordination and symptom severity, further investigation with a larger sample seems warranted. Since there appeared to be differences in motor skills with respect to symptom stage, further research is needed to investigate symptom profiles associated with visuomotor coordination and fine motor deficits in mTBI patients.
轻度创伤性脑损伤（mTBI）患者常报告存在运动协调和视觉空间注意力方面的困难。然而，mTBI对精细运动和视觉运动协调的影响仍未得到充分理解。我们旨在评估mTBI是否对精细运动能力和视觉运动整合有伴随影响，以及这是否与视觉感知和视觉空间注意力受损有关，包括处于不同症状阶段的患者。11名mTBI患者（平均年龄22.8岁）和10名健康对照者参与了该研究。使用贝利 - 布克滕尼卡视觉运动整合发育测试来测量精细运动能力和形状识别的视觉运动整合，通过运动连贯性测试评估运动感知，用袖珍临界闪烁融合测试仪测量临界闪烁融合。使用鲁夫2和7选择注意力测试评估视觉空间能力。mTBI患者表现出视觉运动整合、形状识别和运动缺陷减少，以及视觉空间注意力受损，而运动感知和临界闪烁融合未受损。这些初步发现表明，mTBI引起的暂时性脑损伤会损害精细运动技能、视觉运动整合、形状识别和视觉空间注意力。视觉运动协调障碍与视觉注意力速度相关，并与症状严重程度相关，而运动能力与脑震荡后的时间相关。鉴于视觉运动协调与症状严重程度之间存在强相关性，似乎有必要对更大样本进行进一步研究。由于在症状阶段的运动技能方面似乎存在差异，需要进一步研究来调查mTBI患者中与视觉运动协调和精细运动缺陷相关的症状特征。
