PERCEPTUAL AND MOTOR BEHAVIOR IN DOWN SYNDROME

以及一般智力困难的儿童和成年人 唐氏综合征表现出许多特定的信息处理 问题，其中一些与非典型的大脑模式有关 在这些个人中形成了组织。例如，与其他 智力年龄相近的儿童和成人，唐氏综合症患者 在执行连续的肢体和口腔运动上有困难 言语指导的基础。在这项研究计划中所采取的立场 这个问题是由于 负责言语感知的大脑区域和负责的人 对于运动组织。这项研究计划有四个相互关联的 目标。第一个是开发一个大脑的神经行为指数 唐氏综合症患者的组织结构将可靠地预测 言语运动能力的个体差异。该协议，即 包括执行快速肢体和口腔运动后的二分心 语言刺激的呈现，将使用最新的 脑成像技术。第二个目标是用大脑-- 影像技术扩展了对大脑组织的理解 在唐氏综合症患者的视觉空间功能中，视觉 语言功能和视觉和听觉注意过程。这个 第三个目标涉及扩展序贯口腔研究的研究 以及肢体运动到涉及效应器协调的运动 彼此之间，以及与来自环境的信息。决赛 目的是通过实验来确定言语运动是否 唐氏综合征儿童和成人的表现结果 概括为知觉-运动技能的获得。我们感兴趣的是 脑组织的神经行为和神经生理指标 与前两个研究目标相关的组织预测 不同教学和康复方式下的技能习得 上下文。

As well as general intellectual difficulties, children and adults with Down syndrome exhibit a number of specific information processing problems, some of which are associated with an atypical pattern of brain organization in these individuals. For example, compared to other children and adults of a similar mental age, persons with Down syndrome have difficulty performing sequential limb and oral movements on the basis of verbal direction. The position taken in this research program is that this problem is due to the functional dissociation of the cerebral areas responsible for speech perception and those responsible for movement organization. This research program has four interrelated objectives. The first is to develop a neurobehavioral index of cerebral organization in persons with Down syndrome that will reliably predict individual differences in verbal-motor performance. The protocol, which involves performing rapid limb and oral movements following the dichotic presentation of verbal stimuli, will be validated using the latest in brain-imaging technology. The second objective is to use the brain- imaging technology to extend the understanding of cerebral organization in persons with Down syndrome to visual-spatial function, visual- language function and visual and auditory attentional processes. The third objective involves studies to extend research on sequential oral and limb movements to movements involving the coordination of effectors with each other and with information from the environment. The final objective involves experiments conducted to determine if verbal-motor performance findings involving children and adults with Down syndrome generalize to perceptual-motor skill acquisition. Of interest is whether or not the neurobehavioral and neurophysiological indices of cerebral organization associated with the first two research objectives predict skill acquisition in different instructional and rehabilitation contexts.