Evaluating visuomotor coordination in children with amblyopia.

Abstract

Past research has reported deficits on reaching and grasping tasks in adults with amblyopia and degraded stereoacuity, but less is known about visuomotor deficits in children-specifically, for complex tasks that require movement sequencing. This study therefore compared the visuomotor performance in 21 children with abnormal binocular vision (patient group) due to amblyopia and/or strabismus to that of 236 children with normal binocular vision development (control group) ages 5-14 years. Visual acuity, stereoacuity, and hand-movement kinematics on a bead-threading task were assessed. The patient group showed significantly longer durations than the control group on grasp, thread, and total movement durations. Both groups of participants were then split into immature (ages 5-9 years) and mature (ages 10-14 years) groups based on the maturation age for these parameters in control children. Grasp duration was longer in both mature and immature patient groups; thread and total movement durations were longer in the mature patient group only. Grasp duration was the most disrupted kinematic parameter in children with disrupted binocular vision due to amblyopia and/or strabismus, regardless of age. The level of stereoacuity loss rather than the depth of visual acuity loss was associated with the severity of visuomotor deficits.