Fonctions visuoperceptives chez les enfants IMC âgés de sept à 14 ans : groupement perceptif et discrimination figure–fond

Abstract

Cognitive and perceptual disorders are commonly associated with the motor pathology in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Impairment of visual–perceptual functions is frequently reported in these children. These functions, however, play an important role in academic learning. Using the computerized battery BEVPS, we assessed three groups of children aged between 7 and 14 years, a CP group, a group matched on chronological age and a group matched for mental age (matched on Raven matrices) with CP group. In regarding to visuoperceptual functions, the perceptual grouping, figure–ground discrimination and local–global treatment processing abilities were assessed. The results showed that the perceptual grouping abilities of CP children were significantly lower in comparison with the children matched on chronological age and mental age when they had to process drawings silhouettes. In contrast, these performances are comparable between the three groups of children when they have to process line drawings. Furthermore, the deficits on figure–ground discrimination of CP children were observed when compared with children of the same chronological age for naming the drawings completely overlapping. Contrary, no difference was observed between the three groups for matching the drawings that were completely overlapping or for naming figures partially overlapping. Finally, the performances of the three groups were similar for the local and global information processing. These results therefore demonstrate the specificity of visual–perceptual impairment for these intermediate perceptual processing abilities in children with cerebral palsy, which seems to depend on the type of presentation of visual information.