Abstract
Purpose
An internal model deficit is considered to underlie developmental coordination disorder (DCD); thus, children with DCD have an altered sense of agency (SoA), which is associated with depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the perception of action-outcome regularity is present in early development, is involved in the generation of SoA, and has roles in adaptive motor learning and coordinated motor skills. However, perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity has not been examined in children with DCD.
Methods
We investigated perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity in 6–15-year-old children with DCD and age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) children. Both groups were assessed for coordinated motor skills with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2nd Edition, while the DCD group was assessed with the DCD Questionnaire, Social Communication Questionnaire, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder-Rating Scale, and Depression Self- Rating Scale for Children.
Results
Perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity was significantly reduced in children with DCD. However, there was a significant correlation between perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity and age in DCD and TD children. Perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity was significantly lower in younger children with DCD than in younger and older TD children, but there were no significant differences between older children with DCD and younger and older TD children.
Conclusion
The current results suggest that children with DCD have significantly reduced perceptual sensitivity to action-outcome regularity at younger ages, which may alter SoA and inhibit internal model development, thereby reducing motor skill coordination.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge and thank all of the children and their parents who participated in this study.
Funding
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (to SN; Grant Number 21K11258) and JSPS KAKENHI, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (to WW; Grant Number 21H03780).
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Satoshi Nobusako: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Visualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Wen Wen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Resources, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition. Michihiro Osumi: Investigation. Akio Nakai: Resources. Shu Morioka: Supervision.
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The experimental procedures were approved by the local ethics committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Kio University (approval number: R1-22). There were no foreseeable risks to the participants; no personally identifying information was collected. The children and their parents provided background information and written informed consent. The procedures complied with the ethical standards of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki regarding the treatment of human participants in research.
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Nobusako, S., Wen, W., Osumi, M. et al. Action-outcome Regularity Perceptual Sensitivity in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-06144-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-06144-x