Cognitive and neuroimaging findings in developmental coordination disorder: new insights from a systematic review of recent research

Abstract

Taken together, results support the hypothesis that children with DCD show differences in brain structure and function compared with typically developing children. Behaviourally, these differences may affect anticipatory planning and reduce automatization of movement skill, prompting greater reliance on slower feedback-based control and compensatory strategies. Implications for future research, theory development, and clinical practice are discussed.

Is auditory perceptual timing a core deficit of developmental coordination disorder?

“…The motor difficulties are heterogeneous among individuals with DCD and the etiology and neural basis of DCD remains unclear . Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies suggest that children with DCD show different brain activation patterns compared to typically developing (TD) children, particularly in motor and attentional networks, although not all studies show consistent findings . Deficits in motor timing and sensorimotor timing among individuals with DCD are consistent findings in the literature .…”

“…Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies suggest that children with DCD show different brain activation patterns compared to typically developing (TD) children, particularly in motor and attentional networks, although not all studies show consistent findings . Deficits in motor timing and sensorimotor timing among individuals with DCD are consistent findings in the literature . This suggests that deficits in perceptual timing are also likely a core characteristic of DCD, given that precise perceptual timing ability is prerequisite for controlling precise motor coordination .…”

“…Given that DCD involves a motor timing deficit, and given that time perception and prediction for auditory signals appears to involve auditory–motor synchronizations, we hypothesize that individuals with DCD will show auditory perceptual timing impairments. Only a few studies have investigated this topic in the auditory–motor domain: one reports that children with DCD are more variable than TD children in a continuation tapping task in which they tapped initially with an auditory beat and continued to tap once the beat was removed .…”

“…Functionally, compared to processing subsecond intervals, processing suprasecond intervals relies on other cognitive functions, such as working memory, attention, and cognitive control . A full understanding of timing in DCD therefore needs to consider cognitive factors in addition to perceptual factors, and how they interact, especially because there are reports of deficits in DCD for some of these functions …”

Is developmental coordination disorder in preterm children the motor phenotype of more widespread brain pathology?

“…A systematic review by Wilson et al. that reported cognitive and neuroimaging findings in children with DCD found that networks that connected prefrontal, parietal and cerebellar regions demonstrated altered brain activation patterns and deviating structural connectivity.…”