Concurrent maturation of visuomotor skills and motion perception in typically-developing children and adolescents

Kinematic Assessment of Fine Motor Skills in Children: Comparison of a Kinematic Approach and a Standardized Test

Deficits in fine motor skills have been reported in some children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as amblyopia or strabismus. Therefore, monitoring the development of motor skills and any potential improvement due to therapy is an important clinical goal. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of performing a kinematic assessment within an optometric setting using inexpensive, portable, off-the-shelf equipment. The study also assessed whether kinematic data could enhance the information provided by a routine motor function screening test (the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, MABC). Using the MABC-2, upper limb dexterity was measured in a cohort of 47 typically developing children (7-15 years old), and the Leap motion capture system was used to record hand kinematics while children performed a bead-threading task. Two children with a history of amblyopia were also tested to explore the utility of a kinematic assessment in a clinical population. For the typically developing children, visual acuity and stereoacuity were within the normal range; however, the average standardized MABC-2 scores were lower than published norms. Comparing MABC-2 and kinematic measures in the two children with amblyopia revealed that both assessments provide convergent results and revealed deficits in fine motor control. In conclusion, kinematic assessment can augment standardized tests of fine motor skills in an optometric setting and may be useful for measuring visuomotor function and monitoring treatment outcomes in children with binocular vision anomalies.

The role of binocular vision in the control and development of visually guided upper limb movements

Vision provides a key sensory input for the performance of fine motor skills, which are fundamentally important to daily life activities, as well as skilled occupational and recreational performance. Binocular visual function is a crucial aspect of vision that requires the ability to combine inputs from both eyes into a unified percept. Summation and fusion are two aspects of binocular processing associated with performance advantages, including more efficient visuomotor control of upper limb movements. This paper uses the multiple processes model of limb control to explore how binocular viewing could facilitate the planning and execution of prehension movements in adults and typically developing children. Insight into the contribution of binocularity to visuomotor control also comes from examining motor performance in individuals with amblyopia, a condition characterized by reduced visual acuity and poor binocular function. Overall, research in this field has advanced our understanding of the role of binocular vision in the development and performance of visuomotor skills, the first step towards developing assessment tools and targeted rehabilitation for children with neurodevelopment disorders at risk of poor visuomotor outcomes. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'New approaches to 3D vision'.

Visual system and motor development in children: a systematic review

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to review the available scientific literature on the possible relationship between the visual system and motor development in children.

METHODS

This study was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) statement recommendations. The review protocol is available in PROSPERO (CRD42021245341). Four different databases, namely Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL and Web of Science, were assessed from April 2005 to February 2021. To determine the quality of the articles, we used the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) Quality Appraisal Scale, and a protocol was followed to define the levels of evidence on the basis of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Levels of Evidence. The search strategy included terms describing motor development in children and adolescents with visual disorders.

RESULTS

Among the identified studies, 23 were included in the study. All selected articles examined the relationship between the visual system and development in children. The quality of most of the studies was moderate-high, and they were between evidence levels 2 and 4.

CONCLUSIONS

Our systematic review revealed that all included studies established a relationship between the visual system and development in children. However, the methods for measuring the visual system and motor skills lacked uniformity.

Features of Psychomotor Coordination in Adolescents with Neuropsychiatric Pathology Enrolled in a Standard Educational Program

The imbalance between the speed and accuracy of cognitive-motor operations can lead to the formation of abnormal behavioral programs fraught with serious negative consequences for the individual. For successful correction and prevention of social disadaptation in adolescents with nervous and mental diseases and functional disorders in mental sphere in general education schools, the peculiarities of their psychomotor activity should be taken into account. We measured some parameters of visual-motor coordination and sensorimotor reaction in adolescents with mental disorders with (n = 36) or without (n = 27) organic brain damage. Adolescents from both groups showed higher speed, but poorer accuracy and smoothness, of movements than typically developing students (n = 70). The visual and acoustic reaction times were longer in adolescents with mental disorders without organic brain damage than in reference groups.

Development of eye-hand coordination in typically developing children and adolescents assessed using a reach-to-grasp sequencing task

Eye-hand coordination is required to accurately perform daily activities that involve reaching, grasping and manipulating objects. Studies using aiming, grasping or sequencing tasks have shown a stereotypical temporal coupling pattern where the eyes are directed to the object in advance of the hand movement, which may facilitate the planning and execution required for reaching. While the temporal coordination between the ocular and manual systems has been extensively investigated in adults, relatively little is known about the typical development of eye-hand coordination. Therefore, the current study addressed an important knowledge gap by characterizing the profile of eye-hand coupling in typically developing school-age children (n = 57) and in a cohort of adults (n = 30). Eye and hand movements were recorded concurrently during the performance of a bead threading task which consists of four distinct movements: reach to bead, grasp, reach to needle, and thread. Results showed a moderate to high correlation between eye and hand latencies in children and adults, supporting that both movements were planned in parallel. Eye and reach latencies, latency differences, and dwell time during grasping and threading, showed significant age-related differences, suggesting eye-hand coupling becomes more efficient in adolescence. Furthermore, visual acuity, stereoacuity and accommodative facility were also found to be associated with the efficiency of eye-hand coordination in children. Results from this study can serve as reference values when examining eye and hand movement during the performance of fine motor skills in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Developmental trajectories of global motion and global form perception from 4 years to adulthood

Literature on the development of global motion and global form perception demonstrated their asynchronous developmental trajectories. However, former studies have failed to clearly establish the critical period of maturation for these specific abilities. This study aimed to analyze the developmental trajectories of global motion and global form discrimination abilities by controlling for basic visual functions and general cognitive ability and to present the global motion and global form normative scores. A sample of 456 children and adolescents (4-17 years of age) and 76 adults recruited from the Italian and Swedish general population participated in the study. Motion and form perception were evaluated by the motion coherence test and form coherence test, respectively. Raven's matrices were used to assess general cognitive ability, the Lea Hyvärinen chart test was used for full- and low-contrast visual acuity, and the TNO test was used for stereopsis. General cognitive ability and basic visual functions were strongly related to motion and form perception development. Global motion perception had an accelerated maturation compared with global form perception. For motion perception, an analysis of the oblique effect's development showed that it is present at 4 years of age. The standardized scores of global motion and form coherence tests can be used for clinical purposes.

Assessment of nutrition and learning skills in children aged 5-11 years old from two elementary schools in Chocó, Colombia

Background

Malnutrition has been identified as a factor in growth and learning. The current study aimed to determine the nutritional status and basic learning skills of children from Chocó, Colombia.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 631 children aged 5-11 years from two schools, collecting anthropometric measurements, nutritional quality surveys and sociodemographic data. Neuropsychological batteries were applied.

Results

A total of 523 children were evaluated, with an average age of 8.49 ± 2.1 years. The results revealed that 2.9% of children were underweight, 0.4% were severely underweight, and 4.8% were diagnosed as having stunted growth. In addition, 71.8% of children were unable to draw a human figure. Beery-Buktenica Visual-Motor Integration test (VMI) performance was below the scores expected for these age groups in 73.9% of children. Battery of Differential and General Abilities (BADYG) performance revealed limited verbal skills. In a subsample of 117 children, anemia was detected in 12.8% of cases, and iron deficiency was present in 44.4% of cases. Global malnutrition was associated with impairments in BADYG performance (OR: 1.98; 95% CI: 1.07-3.86).

Conclusions

The current results revealed that learning performance was below the expected level for children in these age groups across all of the applied tests. Although malnutrition could partially explain the poor performance of children in tests of learning abilities, additional factors are likely to be involved.