Abstract Details

Title Inhibitory Control Deficits in Children with Tourette Syndrome Revealed by Object-hit-and-avoid Task

Topic Child Neurology and Developmental Neurology

Presentation(s) S38 - Child Neurology and Developmental Neurology: Acquired Brain Injury: Brain-Behavior Relationships (2:00 PM-2:12 PM)

Poster/Presentation
Number 006

Objective To explore bimanual visuomotor performance in children with Tourette syndrome (TS) using a robot-based task involving rapid motor selection.

Background TS is a childhood onset neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by tics, which may be suppressible. This may relate to inhibitory control, in turn reflecting sensorimotor integration and motor output selection.

Design/Methods 64 children diagnosed with TS (mean 12.4 yrs; 7.5-18.5) were evaluated using a validated robotic bimanual protocol (Kinarm) - object-hit-and-avoid, in which participants viewed targets and distractors moving across a screen simultaneously, with instructions to hit the targets and avoid distractors. The Kinarm measured several kinematic and performance variables. Performance was compared to a database of 146 healthy control children (mean 13 yrs; 6.1-19.9). The primary outcome was performance on task variables related to rapid motor selection and inhibitory control.

Results Measures of rapid motor selection and inhibition yielded statistically significant differences between TS and control groups (ANCOVA; age as covariate), including distractor proportion (distractors hit as percentage of targets), with adjusted means of 16.2% (SE .64) for TS and 11.3% (.43) for controls; and object processing (targets hit plus distractors missed per second), with adjusted means of 1.85 (.028) for TS and 2.0 (.019) for controls. There were no significant differences between the TS-plus-ADHD and TS-without-ADHD groups. There were no reliable differences in other motor/kinematic variables unrelated to inhibitory control.

Conclusions In the object-hit-and-avoid task, children with TS showed worse performance on task variables related to rapid motor selection and inhibitory control. This appears to be independent of ADHD, as patients with and without ADHD performed similarly. The findings lend support to the hypothesis that TS is associated with poorer performance in rapid motor selection. This may explain apparent inconsistencies in the literature regarding impaired inhibition in TS, as rapid motor selection in bimanual tasks is not a feature of all inhibitory control tasks.

Authors/Disclosures
Nicholas Cothros, MD (Kingston Health Sciences Centre) PRESENTER	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
Davide Martino, MD, PhD (Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary)	Dr. Martino has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Scientific Advisory or Data Safety Monitoring board for Roche. Dr. Martino has received personal compensation in the range of $5,000-$9,999 for serving on a Speakers Bureau for Merz Pharma Canada Ltd..
	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
Adam Kirton, MD (Alberta Children'S Hospital)	Dr. Kirton has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as an Expert Witness for Multiple. The institution of Dr. Kirton has received research support from Multiple.
	No disclosure on file
Tamara M. Pringsheim, MD, FAAN (Mathison Centre)	The institution of Dr. Pringsheim has received research support from Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The institution of Dr. Pringsheim has received research support from Azrieli Accelerator.

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