Dissertation
How do children with movement coordination difficulties cross virtual roads? Contributions of motor timing, executive functioning, and processing speed
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Summer 2023
DOI: 10.25820/etd.006986
Abstract
Movement coordination difficulties are a common feature of many neurodevelopmental disorders and may put children at risk for injury when crossing roads. However, relatively little is known about the set of cognitive and motor skills that underlie performance in complex perception-action tasks such as road crossing. The goals of the present investigation were to examine how executive functioning and processing speed skills impact motor timing performance in children with varying motor coordination skills and then to examine whether individual variation in these skills predicts how children cross virtual roads with continuous traffic.
One hundred and three children between the ages of 9 and 11 years completed behavioral tasks measuring executive functioning, processing speed, motor timing, and virtual-road crossing, along with a movement coordination assessment battery. Parents also completed questionnaires regarding children’s behavior and movement problems.
With regard to our first question, we found that processing speed mediated the relation between poorer executive functioning and more variable motor timing in the interval timing task. Processing speed also acted as a moderator of the association between movement coordination difficulties and more variable interval timing performance, such that children with both poorer movement coordination and slower processing speed exhibited the most variability on the interval timing task. With regard to the second question, we found that movement coordination difficulties and poorer motor timing skills predicted riskier gap selection and that poorer movement coordination skills and slower processing speed predicted poorer and more variable timing of entry in the road-crossing task.
These data suggest that children with poorer movement coordination and slower processing speed are most at risk for more motor timing difficulties and risky road crossing behavior. Future research should consider the transdiagnostic importance of movement coordination and processing speed difficulties with particular attention toward everyday safety implications.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- How do children with movement coordination difficulties cross virtual roads? Contributions of motor timing, executive functioning, and processing speed
- Creators
- Morgan N Di Napoli Parr
- Contributors
- Jodie M Plumert (Advisor)Molly Nikolas (Committee Member)Ece Demir-Lira (Committee Member)Eliot Hazeltine (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Psychology (Clinical Psychology)
- Date degree season
- Summer 2023
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.006986
- Number of pages
- ix, 54 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2023 Morgan N Di Napoli Parr
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 07/05/2023
- Description illustrations
- illustrations, tables, graphs
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 41-54).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
- Parents of children with movement coordination difficulties report significant safety concerns with their children’s everyday functioning, particularly crossing roads with traffic However, little is known about how movement coordination difficulties lead to risky road-crossing. Two potential risk factors common to different clinical samples with movement coordination difficulties are executive dysfunction and slow processing speed. The goal of this investigation was to determine how executive functioning and processing speed impact motor timing and road-crossing abilities in sample of children with movement coordination difficulties. We recruited 103 children for a laboratory visit in which they completed tasks assessing their skills in the following domains: sustained attention, inhibitory control, working memory, processing speed, and movement coordination. Children also completed an interval timing task as a measure of motor timing and a virtual road-crossing task in which they crossed 15 intersections with moving traffic in an immersive virtual environment. We found that children with slower processing speed performed more poorly on tasks of motor timing, above and beyond executive functioning measures. This effect was most significant for children both with poor processing speed and poorer movement coordination. Furthermore, we found that children with poorer motor coordination chose smaller gaps to cross and were more variable in timing their initiation of movement in the road-crossing task. Future research should continue to investigate this at-risk population (i.e., those with poor processing speed and movement coordination) particularly in the context of safety behaviors (e.g., crossing roads).
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984454435502771
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