Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol and Motor Timing Behavior

描述（由申请人提供）： 产前暴露于酒精会导致一系列神经行为问题，包括智力功能、语言发育、注意力、学习、记忆和运动技能的缺陷。关于运动表现，我们进行了一系列初步实验，检查产前接触酒精的儿童的平衡，反应时间，预期时间和运动速度控制。结果表明，这些人产生更大的和更可变的运动计时错误比非暴露对照组儿童。总的来说，这项工作的数据表明，运动时序缺陷发生在中央（CNS）和外周（神经肌肉）控制水平，但这些缺陷的来源仍然未知。使用模型驱动的方法，它是拟议的研究的目的是系统地评估特定的中枢和外周系统参与运动计时行为的儿童产前暴露于酒精。两个实验将评估这些儿童的时间缺陷是否可以归因于反应选择和反应编程阶段的较慢和更多变的中央处理。另外两个项目将检查是否与中央时钟处理延迟和/或运动反应延迟有关。除了提供更好的了解机制，有助于定时赤字在酒精暴露的儿童，收集的信息可以用来创建康复计划，旨在专门改善这些人的日常功能，并促进解释未来的研究检查年龄对运动技能表现的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Prenatal exposure to alcohol results in a range of neurobehavioral problems including deficits in intellectual functioning, language development, attention, learning, memory, and motor skills. With regard to motor performance, we conducted a preliminary series of experiments that examined balance, reaction time, anticipation time, and movement speed control in children with prenatal exposure to alcohol. Results indicated that these individuals produced greater and more variable motor timing errors than non-exposed control children. Collectively, data from this work indicated that motor timing deficits occur at both the central (CNS) and peripheral (neuromuscular) levels of control, but the sources of these deficits remain unknown. Using a model driven approach, it is the purpose of the proposed research to systematically evaluate specific central and peripheral systems involved in motor timing behavior of children with prenatal-exposure to alcohol. Two experiments will assess if timing deficits in these children can be attributed to slower and more variable central processing in the response selection and response programming stages. Two additional projects will examine if timing deficits are related to delays in central clock processing and/or motor response delays. In addition to providing a better understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to timing deficits in the alcohol-exposed child, the information gathered can be used to create rehabilitation programs designed to specifically improve the daily functioning of these individuals, and facilitate interpretation of future studies examining the effects of age on motor skill performance.