Diagnosis of sensorimotor reactions and assessment of interhemispheric asymmetry in children with intellectual disability

BACKGROUND: Sensorimotor reactions reflect the interaction between sensory perception and motor responses, allowing assessment of central nervous system functional state, performance capacity, and cognitive characteristics. In children with intellectual disability, alterations in cortical neurodynamics are observed, which affect these processes. Therefore, analysis of sensorimotor reaction parameters and interhemispheric interaction, as well as evaluation of the effects of therapeutic physical training, is of particular relevance.

AIM: The work aimed to diagnose sensorimotor reactions and identify interhemispheric asymmetry in children with intellectual disability and their typically developing peers.

METHODS: The study was conducted in special education and general education institutions in Yekaterinburg. A total of 160 children participated, aged 12 years at study entry and 16 years at study completion. Participants were divided into four groups: two groups of children with intellectual disability (ID) and two groups of children with typical development (TD). Psychophysiological assessment of sensorimotor reactions was performed using the hardware–software complex NS-Psychotest (Neurosoft, Russia) and included tests of simple visual–motor reaction (SVMR), choice reaction, reaction to a moving object, and the tapping test. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. For the comparative analysis of significant differences between groups, the nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance was used. Quantitative data are presented as median and first and third quartiles.

RESULTS: Assessment of sensorimotor reactions revealed inertia of nervous processes in children with intellectual disability, whereas children with typical development demonstrated a mobile or intermediate nervous system type. In the ID groups, the dominant hemisphere during SVMR was the left hemisphere, whereas during cognitive tasks it was the right; in the TD groups, the opposite pattern was observed. These findings reflect specific features of defect structure and hemispheric functioning. The differences between groups were significant.

CONCLUSION: The effect of therapeutic physical training in the experimental groups manifested at the fourth and fifth stages of diagnostics in tests involving cognitive load, whereas SVMR parameters remained unchanged. The hemispheric asymmetry coefficient determined differences between ID and TD groups across all tests. Over time analysis demonstrated a reduction in the asymmetry coefficient in the experimental groups, particularly among children with intellectual disability, confirming the effectiveness of the motor rehabilitation methodology.