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The relationship between motor skills and cognition in children with a special focus on spatial abilities

The topic of this PhD thesis is to investigate the relationship between motor and cognitive skills in children. In particular, the mental rotation ability, which captures the visuo-spatial skills, is considered in the light of neurological disorders and training influences. Children with the neurological disease “spina bifida” demonstrate poorer spatial skills compared to healthy children. The causes of this are not yet fully understood. It is believed that rather the “spina bifida” and the associated motor impairments are responsible for the reduced spatial abilities than the comorbidity hydrocephalus. Based on this assumption it was shown that the reduced spatial abilities in these children are due to the disease “spina bifida” and are not associated to the occurring hydrocephalus. Assuming that, a motor training to improve spatial skills was conducted with these children. Using a juggling training it could be demonstrated that a motor intervention in children with spina bifida leads to a positive influence on mental rotation performance. Additionally, the involvements of other cognitive processes, particularly working memory processes, were considered with regard to the relationship between mental rotation and motor abilities.