Behavioral and Neuroimaging Research on Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD): A Combined Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Recent Findings

Emily Subara-Zukic; Michael H Cole; Thomas B McGuckian; Bert Steenbergen; Dido Green; Bouwien Cm Smits-Engelsman; Jessica M Lust; Reza Abdollahipour; Erik Domellöf; Frederik J A Deconinck; Rainer Blank; Peter H Wilson

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.809455

Behavioral and Neuroimaging Research on Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD): A Combined Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Recent Findings

Front Psychol. 2022 Jan 27:13:809455. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.809455. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
² Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
³ Department of Health Sciences, Brunel University London, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Rehabilitation, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden.
⁵ Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁶ Department of Natural Sciences in Kinanthropology, Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia.
⁷ Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
⁸ Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
⁹ Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁰ Klinik für Kinderneurologie und Sozialpädiatrie, Kinderzentrum Maulbronn gGmbH, Maulbronn, Germany.

Abstract

Aim: The neurocognitive basis of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD; or motor clumsiness) remains an issue of continued debate. This combined systematic review and meta-analysis provides a synthesis of recent experimental studies on the motor control, cognitive, and neural underpinnings of DCD.

Methods: The review included all published work conducted since September 2016 and up to April 2021. One-hundred papers with a DCD-Control comparison were included, with 1,374 effect sizes entered into a multi-level meta-analysis.

Results: The most profound deficits were shown in: voluntary gaze control during movement; cognitive-motor integration; practice-/context-dependent motor learning; internal modeling; more variable movement kinematics/kinetics; larger safety margins when locomoting, and atypical neural structure and function across sensori-motor and prefrontal regions.

Interpretation: Taken together, these results on DCD suggest fundamental deficits in visual-motor mapping and cognitive-motor integration, and abnormal maturation of motor networks, but also areas of pragmatic compensation for motor control deficits. Implications for current theory, future research, and evidence-based practice are discussed.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO, identifier: CRD42020185444.

Keywords: Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD); cognitive control; executive function; meta-analysis; motor learning and control; neurodevelopmental disorders; neuroimaging.

Publication types

Systematic Review