Motor imagery difficulties in children with Cerebral Palsy: A specific or general deficit?
Kids with CP struggle with implicit motor imagery but do fine on explicit kinds—so choose explicit imagery tasks in therapy.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested two kinds of motor imagery in kids with cerebral palsy. One task asked kids to picture moving their hand to match a photo. The other asked them to imagine moving their whole body. They compared scores to typically developing peers.
The study used a quasi-experimental design. Kids with CP and matched peers completed both tasks. Researchers looked for speed and accuracy differences.
What they found
Kids with CP failed the hand-picture task. They showed no normal slowing when the picture required extra mental rotation. This points to weak implicit motor imagery.
The same kids passed the body-move task. Their times looked like typical peers. Explicit motor imagery stayed intact.
How this fits with other research
Fuelscher et al. (2015) saw a similar split in children with probable DCD. Those kids also struggled with internal movement pictures. The pattern supports a shared deficit across neuro-motor disorders.
Pavão et al. (2014) found balance problems during sit-to-stand in mild CP. Together the papers show both postural control and internal action models can be weak, yet each taps different brain routes.
Critten et al. (2018) reported wide visuospatial and math gaps in CP. Adding Eussen et al. (2016), we see CP profiles vary: some kids show imagery issues, others math or balance issues. Assess each domain separately.
Why it matters
You can’t assume all mental-motor skills are broken in CP. Screen both implicit and explicit imagery. If implicit is poor, pick explicit motor imagery drills for rehab. Use clear body-move instructions, not hand-rotation games. Match the task to the spared system and skip the failing one.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
AIM: The aim of this study was to examine the specificity of motor imagery (MI) difficulties in children with CP. METHOD: Performance of 22 children with CP was compared to a gender and age matched control group. MI ability was measured with the Hand Laterality Judgment (HLJ) task, examining specifically the direction of rotation (DOR) effect, and the Praxis Imagery Questionnaire (PIQ). RESULTS: In the back view condition of the HLJ task both groups used MI, as evidenced by longer response times for lateral compared with medial rotational angles. In the palm view condition children with CP did not show an effect of DOR, unlike controls. Error scores did not differ between groups. Both groups performed well on the PIQ, with no significant difference between them in response pattern. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION: The present study suggests that children with CP show deficits on tasks that trigger implicit use of MI, whereas explicit MI ability was relatively preserved, as assessed using the PIQ. These results suggest that employing more explicit methods of MI training may well be more suitable for children with CP in rehabilitation of motor function.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2016 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2016.06.010