Global motion and form processing and attention deficits in multiple child cohorts with neurodevelopmental disorders: Dorsal vulnerability or dorsal/ventral integration?

Abstract

We have previously described a cluster of deficits, across many genetic and acquired developmental disorders (from amblyopia to autism), in tasks related to dorsal stream networks, including poor motion coherence sensitivity, poor visuomotor integration and poor visual attention (Atkinson JOV, 2017). Here we examine and compare these deficits in four new cohorts of children aged 3-12 years, two following perinatal brain injury (PBI) and/or very preterm birth (< 33 weeks gestation) (total N=181), and two diagnosed with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) (total N=65). Children were tested with the child-friendly 'Ball in the Grass' test of global motion and form coherence, and/or the ECAB (Early Child Attention Battery, including a new Italian adaptation) for gauging selective, sustained and attentional control, and (for DCD groups) the Movement-ABC assessing visuo-motor ability. We find that (a) marked motion coherence deficits are common in both DCD and PBI although in DCD these are a function of age; (b) approximately one third of PBI children show deficits in both global motion and form sensitivity; (c) attention deficits in PBI and preterm-born children are greatest in sustained attention; (d) individual differences in motion coherence are significantly correlated with ECAB in PBI, and both form and motion with visuomotor skills in DCD; (e) both coherence and attention deficits were greater than predicted from IQ in many PBI children. We relate these results to our MRI findings that children's motion coherence sensitivity is correlated with differential brain growth in specific parietal areas, visuomotor ability and numerical cognition (Braddick et al, J Cog Neuro 2016, Vision Res 2016). We will discuss our results in relation to interactions between dorsal and ventral streams, recent findings on changes in the connectome following preterm birth, and Duncan's multiple-demand network in the adult brain.

Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2018