TY - JOUR

T1 - Visuomotor skill learning in young adults with Down syndrome

AU - Højberg, Laurits Munk

AU - Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper

AU - Wienecke, Jacob

N1 - Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Background: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) have impaired general motor skills compared to typically developed (TD) individuals.Aims: To gain knowledge on how young adults with DS learn and retain new motor skills.Methods and procedures: A DS-group (mean age = 23.9 ± 3 years, N = 11), and an age-matched TD-group (mean age 22.8 ± 1.8, N = 14) were recruited. The participants practiced a visuomotor accuracy tracking task (VATT) in seven blocks (10.6 min). Online and offline effects of practice were assessed based on tests of motor performance at baseline immediate and 7-day retention.Outcomes and results: The TD-group performed better than the DS-group on all blocks (all P < 0.001). Both groups improved VATT-performance online from baseline to immediate retention, (all P < 0.001) with no difference in online effect between groups. A significant between-group difference was observed in the offline effect (∆TD - ∆DS, P = 0.04), as the DS-group's performance at 7-day retention was equal to their performance at immediate retention (∆DS, P > 0.05), whereas an offline decrease in performance was found in the TD-group (∆TD, P < 0.001).Conclusions and implications: Visuomotor pinch force accuracy is lower for adults with DS compared to TD. However, adults with DS display significant online improvements in performance with motor practice similar to changes observed for TD. Additionally, adults with DS demonstrate offline consolidation following motor learning leading to significant retention effects.

AB - Background: Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) have impaired general motor skills compared to typically developed (TD) individuals.Aims: To gain knowledge on how young adults with DS learn and retain new motor skills.Methods and procedures: A DS-group (mean age = 23.9 ± 3 years, N = 11), and an age-matched TD-group (mean age 22.8 ± 1.8, N = 14) were recruited. The participants practiced a visuomotor accuracy tracking task (VATT) in seven blocks (10.6 min). Online and offline effects of practice were assessed based on tests of motor performance at baseline immediate and 7-day retention.Outcomes and results: The TD-group performed better than the DS-group on all blocks (all P < 0.001). Both groups improved VATT-performance online from baseline to immediate retention, (all P < 0.001) with no difference in online effect between groups. A significant between-group difference was observed in the offline effect (∆TD - ∆DS, P = 0.04), as the DS-group's performance at 7-day retention was equal to their performance at immediate retention (∆DS, P > 0.05), whereas an offline decrease in performance was found in the TD-group (∆TD, P < 0.001).Conclusions and implications: Visuomotor pinch force accuracy is lower for adults with DS compared to TD. However, adults with DS display significant online improvements in performance with motor practice similar to changes observed for TD. Additionally, adults with DS demonstrate offline consolidation following motor learning leading to significant retention effects.

KW - Humans

KW - Young adult

KW - Adult

KW - Down syndrome

KW - Learning

KW - Motor Skills

KW - Task performance and analysis

KW - Motor learning

KW - Cognition

U2 - 10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104535

DO - 10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104535

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37210919

VL - 138

JO - Research in Developmental Disabilities

JF - Research in Developmental Disabilities

SN - 0891-4222

M1 - 104535

ER -