Procedural learning in children with developmental coordination disorder

Abstract

Despite the fact that developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is characterised by a deficit in the ability to learn or automate motor skills, few studies have examined motor learning over repeated trials. In this study we examined procedural learning in a group of 10 children with DCD (aged 8–12 years) and age-matched controls without DCD. The learning task was modelled on that of Nissen and Bullemer [Cognitive Psychology 19 (1987) 1]. Children performed a serial reaction time (SRT) task in which they were required to learn a spatial sequence that repeated itself every 10 trials. Children were not aware of the repetition. Spatial targets were four (horizontal) locations presented on a computer monitor. Children responded using four response keys with the same horizontal mapping as the stimulus. They were tested over five blocks of 100 trials each. The first four blocks presented the same repeating sequence, while the fifth block was randomised. Procedural learning was indexed by the slope of the regression of RT on blocks 1–4. Results showed that most children displayed strong procedural learning of the sequence, despite having no explicit knowledge about it. Overall, there was no group difference in the magnitude of learning over blocks of trials – most children performed within the normal range. Procedural learning for simple sequential movements appears to be intact in children with DCD. This suggests that cortico-striatal circuits that are strongly implicated in the sequencing of simple movements appear to be function normally in DCD.