Emma Campbell
I am currently in the first year of a PhD at UCL Institute of Education, under the supervision of Prof Emily Farran and Prof Elizabeth Pellicano. Over the next three years, the aim of my PhD, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, will be to elucidate the interaction between visuo-spatial processing and motor performance in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The condition is usually characterised by distinct impairment in the performance of motor skills that have a significant, negative impact on daily activities. Additionally, children with DCD can exhibit deficits in visuo-spatial processing. Visuo-spatial processing is involved in most motor skills, so it has been suggested that any dysfunction in this perceptual process will have a negative impact on ability to conduct simple, everyday tasks requiring fine manipulation of objects such as writing and drawing.
Earlier research has utilised behavioural measures to aid understanding of the relationship between visual processing and motor impairment in children with DCD. However an increasing interest is arising in the recording of eye movements, specifically when assessing the presentation of neurodevelopmental disorders. Eye movements have consistently been linked with cognitive processing, and observations suggest that coordination of the eyes is noticeably difficult in those with DCD, which is proposed to have some effect on how they engage in motor-based tasks in both an educational context and every-day activities. Therefore, my research will examine whether eye movements differ between children with DCD and those without DCD, when they complete tasks that require focussed visuo-spatial perception.
The first phase of the research will involve screening groups of children with and without DCD to determine which underlying factors (e.g. verbal ability, age, non-verbal ability) best predict motor performance and whether this differs across groups, using a technique known as developmental trajectory analysis. The second phase will incorporate a series of experiments designed to measure different aspects of visuo-spatial perception, such as visual discrimination and mental imagery. During these experiments, children will have their eye movements recorded in order to investigate whether the patterns of fixation differ between children with and without DCD, and whether this can be linked with their overall task performance.
Last Updated October 2015
I am currently in the first year of a PhD at UCL Institute of Education, under the supervision of Prof Emily Farran and Prof Elizabeth Pellicano. Over the next three years, the aim of my PhD, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, will be to elucidate the interaction between visuo-spatial processing and motor performance in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The condition is usually characterised by distinct impairment in the performance of motor skills that have a significant, negative impact on daily activities. Additionally, children with DCD can exhibit deficits in visuo-spatial processing. Visuo-spatial processing is involved in most motor skills, so it has been suggested that any dysfunction in this perceptual process will have a negative impact on ability to conduct simple, everyday tasks requiring fine manipulation of objects such as writing and drawing.
Earlier research has utilised behavioural measures to aid understanding of the relationship between visual processing and motor impairment in children with DCD. However an increasing interest is arising in the recording of eye movements, specifically when assessing the presentation of neurodevelopmental disorders. Eye movements have consistently been linked with cognitive processing, and observations suggest that coordination of the eyes is noticeably difficult in those with DCD, which is proposed to have some effect on how they engage in motor-based tasks in both an educational context and every-day activities. Therefore, my research will examine whether eye movements differ between children with DCD and those without DCD, when they complete tasks that require focussed visuo-spatial perception.
The first phase of the research will involve screening groups of children with and without DCD to determine which underlying factors (e.g. verbal ability, age, non-verbal ability) best predict motor performance and whether this differs across groups, using a technique known as developmental trajectory analysis. The second phase will incorporate a series of experiments designed to measure different aspects of visuo-spatial perception, such as visual discrimination and mental imagery. During these experiments, children will have their eye movements recorded in order to investigate whether the patterns of fixation differ between children with and without DCD, and whether this can be linked with their overall task performance.
Last Updated October 2015
