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Dance Improves Motor, Cognitive, and Social Skills in Children With Developmental Cerebellar Anomalies

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Abstract

In this multiple single-cases study, we used dance to train sensorimotor synchronization (SMS), motor, and cognitive functions in children with developmental cerebellar anomalies (DCA). DCA are rare dysfunctions of the cerebellum that affect motor and cognitive skills. The cerebellum plays an important role in temporal cognition, including SMS, which is critical for motor and cognitive development. Dancing engages the SMS neuronal circuitry, composed of the cerebellum, the basal ganglia, and the motor cortices. Thus, we hypothesized that dance has a beneficial effect on SMS skills and associated motor and cognitive functions in children with DCA. Seven children (aged 7–11) with DCA participated in a 2-month dance training protocol (3 h/week). A test–retest design protocol with multiple baselines was used to assess children’s SMS skills as well as motor, cognitive, and social abilities. SMS skills were impaired in DCA before the training. The training led to improvements in SMS (reduced variability in paced tapping), balance, and executive functioning (cognitive flexibility), as well as in social skills (social cognition). The beneficial effects of the dance training were visible in all participants. Notably, gains were maintained 2 months after the intervention. These effects are likely to be sustained by enhanced activity in SMS brain networks due to the dance training protocol.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the clinicians who conducted patients’ evaluations: Dr. Marie-Pierre Lemaître, Camille Fallot, and Yohan Bourez. We also thank Véronique Brunel, the dance teacher who created and conducted the dance program. Finally, we thank Séverine Farley for language editing.

Funding

The research was supported by the “Fondation Maladies Rares” (“TEMDANCE” grant).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Valentin Bégel

    Present address: Department of Psychology, McGill University, 1205 Dr Penfield Ave, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada

  2. Julien Laroche

    Present address: Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication (CTNSC), Fondazione Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia (IIT), Via Fossato di Mortara, 17/19, Ferrara, 44121, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ULR 4072–PSITEC–Psychologie: Interactions, Temps, Emotions, Cognition, Univ. Lille, F-59000, Lille, France

    Valentin Bégel, Sylvain Clément & Delphine Dellacherie

  2. UMR 7023, CNRS, Université Paris 8, 59/61 rue Pouchet, 75849, Paris, France

    Asaf Bachrach

  3. International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), 1430 Boulevard du Mont-Royal, Montreal, QC, H2V 2J2, Canada

    Simone Dalla Bella

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, CP 6128 Succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Simone Dalla Bella

  5. Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music (CRBLM), Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, 3640 de la Montagne, Montreal, QC, H3G 2A8, Canada

    Simone Dalla Bella

  6. Department of Cognitive Psychology, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Okopowa 59, Warsaw, 01-043, Poland

    Simone Dalla Bella

  7. Labex Arts H2H, Université Paris 8, 2 Rue de la Liberté, 93526, Saint-Denis, France

    Julien Laroche

  8. Department of Pediatric Neurology, University Hospital of Lille, 2 Av. Oscar Lambret, 59037, Lille, France

    Audrey Riquet & Delphine Dellacherie

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  1. Valentin Bégel
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Bégel, V., Bachrach, A., Dalla Bella, S. et al. Dance Improves Motor, Cognitive, and Social Skills in Children With Developmental Cerebellar Anomalies. Cerebellum 21, 264–279 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-021-01291-2

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