A method to quantify postural control during attention task in preschoolers

Abstract

Objective: The relation between motor tasks (such has handwriting) and attention are closely related. It is common that educators mention postures readjustment in children with attention difficulties, which is not surprising considering that maintaining posture requires attentional resources. The attention task is from Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) is structured into four areas: planning, attention, and successive and simultaneous processing. Therefore, it is important to understand postural control behavior during an attention task to better prepare child’s environment during motor tasks. This study aims to relate the traditional variables of postural control with the attention level of children assessed by the CAS. Methods: Sixty-seven children (5-6 years) performed an attention task (CAS) while standing on a force plate to measure the center of pressure (CoP) excursions. For the assessment of postural control, the children were standing on the force plate (Plux -Portugal). The displacement of the CoP was sampled at 100 Hz. Results: The results of this study show that there is a significant negative association between all traditional parameters and the outcome of the attention task (TOTEX;-0.399;< .001; TOTEX_ AP;-0.364; 0.002; TOTEX_ML;-0.424;< .001; A_AP;-0.376; 0.002; A_ML;-.394;< .001; AREA_CC; -0.448;< .001; AREA_CE;-0.343; 0.004). Conclusions: We can conclude that the better the outcome in the task, the lower the values in the postural control parameters. This procedure will allow a deeper analysis of attention during motor tasks. The inclusion of other nonlinear measures will allow us to assess the complexity and regularity of the behavior of sway during these motor tasks.