Motor performance and motor learning in adults with dyslexia.

摘要

Assessment of motor performance and motor learning in dyslexia is crucial becauseudof its ability to shed light on the underlying biology of the disorder and touddiscriminate between theoretical approaches. It remains a controversial area due toudexisting discrepant research findings and interpretations.udThree studies are described in this thesis. The first used three sets of experiments toudtest balance and postural control in single and dual-task conditions. The secondudstudy examined the production and timing of responses in a classical eyeblinkudconditioning paradigm. The final study investigated motor skill acquisition. Theudresults of the three studies were similar in that in dual-task balance, conditionedudresponse timing and motor skill consolidation around half of the dyslexic adultsudshowed substantial deficits compared with a control group.udThe samples of participants in the three studies overlapped sufficiently for someudcross-study comparisons of strengths and weaknesses to be conducted. Theseudshowed that it was rare for a participant with dyslexia to show motor impairment inudjust one of the three domains, with dual task balance and conditioned responseudtiming seeming to be most closely associated.udOverall the results provide strong evidence of enduring deficits outside the literacyuddomain in dyslexia and also highlight the considerable heterogeneity of the disorder.udConsequently they lend particular weight to the notion of cerebellar causation.udFurther studies should be undertaken on a larger scale to scrutinize the consistencyudof motor impairments in dyslexia and the possibility that those showing motorudproblems might form a definite subgroup within dyslexia. In the longer term, thisudwork points to a possibility of multiple, independently diagnosable sub-classes ofuddyslexia, based on specific neurological abnormalities, with their own specificudremediation and objective early detection schemes.