Fereshte Hemmatizad; Mehdi Rafei Boroujeni; Hamid Salehi
Abstract
Introduction: This research aimed to determine the effect of task complexity on bilateral transfer in older adults.Methods: Thirty healthy elderly men and women, with a mean age of 68.5±7.4 years, were selected using a convenience sampling method. In the pretest phase, participants performed three ...
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Introduction: This research aimed to determine the effect of task complexity on bilateral transfer in older adults.Methods: Thirty healthy elderly men and women, with a mean age of 68.5±7.4 years, were selected using a convenience sampling method. In the pretest phase, participants performed three types of finger dexterity tasks of different complexity, including the Purdue Pegboard Test, O'Connor Dexterity Test, and the Mirror Purdue Pegboard Test with dominant and non-dominant hands. They then practiced one of the tasks six times with their dominant hand. Finally, in the post-test and retention phase, they performed the task again with their dominant and non-dominant hands. There was a week interval between the post-test and retention test of the first task and the beginning of the second task practice. The time to complete each task was normalized compared to the time to complete the task in the pre-test phase and the percentage of progress was calculated concerning this situation in different iterations. One-way Analysis of Variance and the Pearson Correlation Coefficient were used to analyze the data (P≤0.05).Results: The findings of the research showed that during the post-test and retention phase, there was a significant difference between the Purdue Pegboard Test and the Mirror Purdue Pegboard Test and also between the O'Connor Dexterity Test and the Purdue Pegboard Test in the non-dominant hand progress in performing finger dexterity skills with different complexity. Also, there was a significant correlation between the total practice time and the progress rate of the non-dominant hand in the Purdue task, and also between the progress rate of the dominant and non-dominant hands in the Purdue Pegboard Test and Mirror Purdue Pegboard Test.Conclusion: It seems that for older adults, compensatory mechanisms are involved in bilateral transfer in complex tasks.
Hamid Salehi; Mahboubeh Mehrvarz; Mehdi Rafaei
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine if the reduction of errors during practice facilitates implicit motor learning processes in children. 30 children (meanage =11.33±1.32 yr) threw beanbags with a near-to-far or a far-to-near order, while their vision was occluded. The near-to-far group ...
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The aim of this study was to determine if the reduction of errors during practice facilitates implicit motor learning processes in children. 30 children (meanage =11.33±1.32 yr) threw beanbags with a near-to-far or a far-to-near order, while their vision was occluded. The near-to-far group began the acquisition phase at a distance of 2 m from the target. Then, they practiced the task at a distance of 3 m, 4 m and finally 5 m from the target. Far-to-near group began the practice phase at the distance of 5 m and then moved to 4 m, 3 m and 2 m respectively. Delayed single-task and dual-task tests were administered at a distance of 3.50 m from the target. During the acquisition phase, the ratio of errors made by the near-to-far (errorless) group was found to be significantly less than the far-to-near (errorful) group. No significant intergroup difference was found in the single-task test. The results also revealed that the errorless group performed the task with less errors than the errorful group in the dual-task condition. It was generally concluded that less errors during practicing a motor skill can facilitate the use of implicit motor learning processes in children.
