The ability to execute saccades on the basis of efference copy: impairments in double-step saccade performance in children with developmental co-ordination disorder

The double-step saccade task (DSST) was used to test the hypothesis that ch ildren with developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) who experience defic its in motor imagery have difficulty processing the visual spatial conseque nces of intended movements using efference copy signals. In order to ensure that the second saccade in the DSST was executed in the absence of visual cues and had to be programmed on the basis of extra-retinal information (ef ference copy), we analysed only those double-step ensembles where latency p lus duration of first saccades was greater than 240 ms (total presentation time of the targets). No significant differences between DCD and control ch ildren were evident on measures of latency of first saccades, intersaccadic interval and first saccade error. As predicted, children with DCD who have impaired motor imagery demonstrated specific deficits on the DSST where ef ference copy had been used to program the saccade sequence. More specifical ly, these children were less accurate in terms of final eye position on sec ond saccades. Our results raise the possibility that abnormalities in the p rocessing of efference copy signals could underlie motor clumsiness in the majority of children with DCD. Furthermore, the origin of this deficit in e fference copy probably exists at the level of the parietal lobe.