Motor imagery in children with unilateral cerebral palsy: a case-control study.

AIM: To evaluate whether children with cerebral palsy (CP) are able to engage in a motor imagery task. Possible associations between motor imagery and functional performance, working memory, age, and intelligence were also investigated. METHOD: This is a case-control study that assessed 57 children (25 females, 32 males) with unilateral CP, aged 6 to 14 years (mean age: 10y 4mo; SD 2y 8mo) and 175 typically developing (control) children, aged 6 to 13 years (87 females, 88 males; mean age: 9y 4mo; SD 1y 11mo). The hand laterality judgment task was used to measure motor imagery ability. Reaction time, accuracy, and the effect of the biomechanical constraints were assessed in this task. RESULTS: Performance in both groups followed the biomechanical constraints of the task, that is, longer reaction times to recognize stimuli rotated laterally when compared to medial stimuli. Reaction time means did not differ significantly between groups (p>0.05). Significant differences between the unilateral CP and control groups were observed for accuracy (p<0.05). Functional performance and working memory were correlates of motor imagery tasks. INTERPRETATION: Results suggest that children with unilateral CP can engage in motor imagery; however, they commit more errors than typically developing controls. In addition, their performance in tasks of motor imagery is influenced by functional performance and working memory.

Evaluation of body representation in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy: toward the development of a neuropsychological test battery

Clinical observations indicate that many children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP) exhibit a lack of use or disregard of the affected upper limb. The aim of the present study was to develop, adapt, and verify the psychometric properties of a neuropsychological battery to assess body perception and representation disturbances in children with HCP. Three groups of children participated in this study, who took part in different phases of the validation process: one group of typically developing children (TD; n = 30; aged 4-6 years) and two groups of HCP children (HCP1: n = 12, aged 5-10 years; HCP2: n = 49, aged 5-13 years). Because no cognitive-neuropsychological model of body representation has been specifically developed for children, the tasks were designed based on a cognitive-neuropsychological model developed for adults. The chosen model comprises three levels of body representation: body schema, body structural description, and body image. The following steps were adopted in developing the instrument: development and choice of the tasks, selection and preparation of stimuli, adequacy and improvement of the instrument, semantic analysis of items, internal consistency, and feasibility and acceptability of application for TD and HCP children. The final set of tasks and items was chosen to balance the levels of difficulty and internal consistency. We concluded that the final battery was adequate and can be used to assess body representation disturbances in children with HCP...

Evaluation of body representation in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy: toward the development of a neuropsychological test battery

Clinical observations indicate that many children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP) exhibit a lack of use or disregard of the affected upper limb. The aim of the present study was to develop, adapt, and verify the psychometric properties of a neuropsychological battery to assess body perception and representation disturbances in children with HCP. Three groups of children participated in this study, who took part in different phases of the validation process: one group of typically developing children (TD; n = 30; aged 4-6 years) and two groups of HCP children (HCP1: n = 12, aged 5-10 years; HCP2: n = 49, aged 5-13 years). Because no cognitive-neuropsychological model of body representation has been specifically developed for children, the tasks were designed based on a cognitive-neuropsychological model developed for adults. The chosen model comprises three levels of body representation: body schema, body structural description, and body image. The following steps were adopted in developing the instrument: development and choice of the tasks, selection and preparation of stimuli, adequacy and improvement of the instrument, semantic analysis of items, internal consistency, and feasibility and acceptability of application for TD and HCP children. The final set of tasks and items was chosen to balance the levels of difficulty and internal consistency. We concluded that the final battery was adequate and can be used to assess body representation disturbances in children with HCP.(AU)