Tseng, Konczak and Holst-Wolf publish research about haptic perception in children

Yu-Ting Tseng, PhD, a graduate of the School of Kinesiology and member of the Human Sensorimotor Control (HSC) Lab, Jürgen Konczak, PhD, professor in Kinesiology and HSC Lab director, and Jessica Holst-Wolf, PhD, postdoctoral associate in the HSC Lab along with colleagues from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan published research in Neuropsychologia.

The article, “Haptic perception is altered in children with developmental coordination disorder,” examined whether haptic perception, which relies on somatosensory afferents, is impaired in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). DCD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects coordination and motor function in children but may affect the somatosensory system as well. The researchers measured somatosensation with a haptic test where children made judgments about the shape of blocks after exploring the shapes by touch, not using vision. They found that children with DCD demonstrate haptic dysfunction compared with typically developing children and this haptic measure correlates with a standard clinical measure of motor function.