Institut Nacional d'Educació Física de Catalunya, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Castelldefels, Spain.
PLoS One. 2024 May 9;19(5):e0302242. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302242. eCollection 2024.
Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is one of the most prevalent pediatric chronic conditions. Without proper intervention, significant delays in motor skill performance and learning may persist until adulthood. Moderate-to-vigorous physical exercise has been proven to improve motor learning (adaptation and consolidation) in children with or without disorders. However, the effect of a short bout of physical exercise on motor adaptation and consolidation in children with DCD has not been examined. Furthermore, the role of perceptual-motor integration and attention as mediators of learning has not been examined via neuroimaging in this population.
Therefore, the primary aims of this project will be to compare children with and without DCD to (a) examine the effect of acute exercise on motor learning (adaptation and consolidation) while performing a rotational visuo-motor adaptation task (rVMA), and (b) explore cortical activation in the dorsolateral- and ventrolateral-prefrontal cortex areas while learning the rVMA task under rest or post-exercise conditions.
One hundred twenty children will be recruited (60 DCD, 60 controls) and within-cohort randomly assigned to either exercise (13-minute shuttle run task) or rest prior to performing the rVMA task. Adaptation and consolidation will be evaluated via two error variables and three retention tests (1h, 24h and 7 days post adaptation). Cortical activation will be registered via functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during the baseline, adaptation, and consolidation.
We expect to find exercise benefits on motor learning and attention so that children with DCD profiles will be closer to those of children with typical development. The results of this project will provide further evidence to: (a) better characterize children with DCD for the design of educational materials, and (b) establish acute exercise as a potential intervention to improve motor learning and attention.
发育性协调障碍（DCD）是最常见的儿童慢性疾病之一。如果没有适当的干预，运动技能表现和学习的显著延迟可能会持续到成年期。中等至剧烈的身体运动已被证明可以改善有或没有障碍的儿童的运动学习（适应和巩固）。然而，尚未检查短暂的身体运动对 DCD 儿童运动适应和巩固的影响。此外，在该人群中，通过神经影像学检查，感知运动整合和注意力作为学习的中介作用尚未得到研究。
因此，该项目的主要目的将是比较患有和不患有 DCD 的儿童：（a）检查急性运动对执行旋转视动适应任务（rVMA）时运动学习（适应和巩固）的影响，以及（b）探索在休息或运动后条件下学习 rVMA 任务时背外侧和腹外侧前额叶皮层区域的皮质激活。
将招募 120 名儿童（60 名 DCD，60 名对照组），并在队列内随机分配到运动（13 分钟穿梭跑任务）或休息组，然后再进行 rVMA 任务。通过两个误差变量和三个保留测试（适应后 1 小时、24 小时和 7 天）评估适应和巩固。在基线、适应和巩固期间，通过功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）记录皮质激活。
我们预计运动将对运动学习和注意力产生有益影响，以便 DCD 儿童的表现更接近典型发育儿童的表现。该项目的结果将提供进一步的证据：（a）更好地描述 DCD 儿童，以设计教育材料，以及（b）确立急性运动作为改善运动学习和注意力的潜在干预措施。
