Motor and cognitive dual-task performance under low and high task complexity in children with and without developmental coordination disorder.
Kids with DCD can keep up in dual tasks but burn extra mental fuel, so lower the load and insert rests before fatigue hits.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hilde and colleagues asked kids with and without developmental coordination disorder to do two things at once. One task was easy, the other was hard. They watched how well each group did and asked how tired their brains felt.
The kids walked while naming animals or doing math. The team compared steps, answers, and self-rated effort between the two groups.
What they found
Both groups slowed down a little when the tasks got harder. The size of the slow-down was the same for kids with and without DCD.
The big difference was inside: children with DCD said the dual tasks felt much harder, even though their scores matched their peers.
How this fits with other research
Asonitou et al. (2012) saw large gaps between the same two groups on single motor and single thinking tests. Hilde’s team now shows those gaps disappear when the tasks are combined, hinting that dual-task settings hide real problems.
Schaaf et al. (2015) also used low- and high-demand jobs. They found smaller heart-rate changes in at-risk kids, pointing to a quieter stress system. Hilde adds the mental side: the system still feels the load, it just doesn’t show it in the body.
Robertson et al. (2013) watched kids with DCD burn more oxygen while biking. Higher fuel use plus higher mental effort paints one picture: everything costs more for these kids, even when we can’t see it right away.
Why it matters
You can’t trust equal scores to mean equal ease. Plan short bursts, give brain breaks, and ask clients how hard it feels. Drop complexity before performance crashes, not after.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: In everyday life, tasks are often performed simultaneously, which may be more difficult for children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) than their peers. AIMS: To examine (1) the effects of task complexity and type of concurrent task on dual-task performance in children with and without DCD; and (2) if the amount of effort that children put into the task performance differs between the groups. METHODS: Participants were 64 children with and without DCD (aged 7-14 years). The dual-task paradigm consisted of a manual dexterity task of relatively low complexity (box and block test) or relatively high complexity (pegboard task), and a concurrent motor task (cycling task) or a concurrent cognitive task (word-listening task). To assess mental effort, children were asked how tired they felt before and after the experiment. RESULTS: Dual-task interference was highest when the manual dexterity task of relatively high complexity was combined with the concurrent motor task. There were no group differences in dual-task interference, but children with DCD reported a larger increase in the level of tiredness after the experiment indicative of greater mental effort. CONCLUSIONS: Depending on task demands, children with DCD are able to perform dual-tasks at the same level as their peers, but performance may take children with DCD more mental effort.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2023 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104453