Background. Tic disorders may reflect impaired inhibitory control. This has been evaluated using different behavioural tasks, yielding mixed results. Our objective was to test inhibitory control in children with tics through simultaneous presentation of multiple, mobile stimuli. Methods. Sixty-four children with tics (mean age 12.4 years; 7.5-18.5) were evaluated using a validated robotic bimanual exoskeleton protocol (Kinarm) in an object-hit-and-avoid task, in which target and distractor objects moved across a screen and participants aimed to hit only the targets while avoiding distractors. Performance was compared to 146 typically developing controls (mean age 13 years; 6.1-19.9). The primary outcome was the percentage of distractors struck. Results. ANCOVA (age as covariate) showed participants struck significantly more distractors (participants without comorbid ADHD, 22.71% [SE 1.47]; participants with comorbid ADHD, 23.56% [1.47]; and controls, 15.59% [0.68]). Participants with comorbid ADHD struck significantly fewer targets (119.74 [2.77]) than controls, but no difference was found between participants without comorbid ADHD (122.66 [2.77]) and controls (127.00 [1.28]). Participants and controls did not differ significantly in movement speed and movement area. Just over 20% of participants with tics fell below the age-predicted norm in striking distractors, whereas fewer than 10% fell outside age-predicted norms in other task parameters. Conclusions. In children with tics (without comorbid ADHD), acting upon both targets and distractors suggests reduced ability to suppress responses to potential triggers for action. This may be related to increased sensorimotor noise or abnormal sensory gating.

中文翻译：

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对象命中和回避任务揭示抽动障碍儿童的抑制控制缺陷

背景。抽动障碍可能反映了抑制性控制受损。这已经使用不同的行为任务进行了评估，产生了不同的结果。我们的目标是通过同时呈现多种移动刺激来测试抽动儿童的抑制控制。方法。64 名患有抽动症的儿童（平均年龄 12.4 岁；7.5-18.5）使用经过验证的机器人双手外骨骼协议 (Kinarm) 进行了对象撞击和避免任务的评估，其中目标和干扰物在屏幕上移动，并且参与者的目标是只击中目标，同时避免干扰。将性能与 146 名典型的发育对照（平均年龄 13 岁；6.1-19.9）进行了比较。主要结果是被干扰的百分比。结果. ANCOVA（年龄作为协变量）显示参与者受到明显更多的干扰（没有合并 ADHD 的参与者，22.71% [SE 1.47]；合并 ADHD 的参与者，23.56% [1.47]；和对照组，15.59% [0.68]）。与对照组相比，患有共病 ADHD 的参与者击中的目标显着减少 (119.74 [2.77])，但在没有共病 ADHD (122.66 [2.77]) 的参与者和对照组 (127.00 [1.28]) 之间没有发现差异。参与者和对照组在运动速度和运动面积上没有显着差异。仅超过 20% 的抽动参与者在引人注目的干扰项中低于年龄预测标准，而在其他任务参数中只有不到 10% 的参与者超出年龄预测标准。结论. 在患有抽动症的儿童（没有合并症多动症）中，对目标和干扰物采取行动表明抑制对潜在行动触发反应的能力降低。这可能与感觉运动噪音增加或感觉门控异常有关。