Verb generation in children with spina bifida.

We investigated verb generation in children with spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM; n = 55) and in typically developing controls (n = 32). Participants completed 6 blocks (40 trials each) of a task requiring them to produce a semantically related verb in response to a target noun and an additional 40 trials on which they were simply required to read target nouns aloud. After controlling for reading response time, groups did not differ significantly in verb generation response time or learning. Children with SBM produced more non-verb errors than controls and tended to repeat their mistakes over blocks. Verb generation performance was associated with brain volume measures in participants with SBM. Congenital cerebellar dysmorphology is associated with impaired performance in verb generation accuracy, although not with increased response times to produce verb

The importance of active versus passive body movement cues in infant search

grantor: University of TorontoThis experiment investigated the role of active versus passive body movement information and visual information on spatial orientation. Infants aged 13 to 15 months completed a search task that required them to retrieve a toy from one of two containers. Before search, the infants or the hidden objects were rotated 180°, or no movement occurred. These displacements allowed for a manipulation of body movement information and, on the infant displacement trials, infants were either rolled around on a chair (passive self-movement) or walked around the table (active self-movement). Visual information was manipulated by having these displacements occur in a fight or dark environment. Search was best following no movement and overall accuracy was significantly better in this condition than after object movement; no other differences between movement conditions were evident. The results do not indicate any facilitation of active movement on search, and are discussed with respect to previous findings.M.A

Upper limb cerebellar motor function in children with spina bifida

Abstract Purpose To investigate upper limb cerebellar motor function in children with spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM) and in typically developing controls. Methods Participants with SBM, who had either upper level spinal lesions (n=23) or lower level spinal lesions (n=65), and controls (n=37) completed four upper limb motor function tasks (posture, rebound, limb dysmetria, and diadochokinesis) under four different physical and cognitive challenge conditions. Functional independence was assessed by parental questionnaire. Results Fewer SBM participants were able to complete the posture task, and they were less likely than controls to obtain a perfect rebound score. Participants with SBM showed impaired performance in either time, accuracy, or both, on the limb dysmetria and diadochokinesis tasks but responded like controls to physical and cognitive challenges. Conclusions Because upper limb motor performance predicted aspects of functional independence, we conclude that upper limb impairments in children with SBM are significant and have direct implications for the level of independent functioning in children with SBM