Journal of Sports and Motor Development and Learning
Scientific Journal

The Effect of Task Complexity on Bilateral Transfer in Older Adults

Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under CC BY-NC 4.0 license

Authors

Fereshte Hemmatizad 1
Mehdi Rafei Boroujeni 2
Hamid Salehi 3

1 MA of Motor Behavior, Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Management, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

2 Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Management, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

3 Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Management, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran .

https://doi.org/10.22059/jsmdl.2024.369126.1760
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 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.

Keywords

Dominant hand
Interlimb transfer
Nondominant hand. Older adults
Ausenda, C. D., Togni, G., Biffi, M., Morlacchi, S., Corrias, M., & Cristoforetti, G. (2014). A new idea for stroke rehabilitation: Bilateral transfer analysis from healthy hand to the paretic one with a randomized and controlled trial. International Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 1-8. https://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2329-9096.S3-008
Batista, S. R. d. A., Rodrigues, P., & Vasconcelos, O. (2017). Intermanual Transfer of Learning in a Fine Manual Skill Task. Motriz: Revista de Educação Física, 23(1), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1980-6574201700010002
Berger, M. A., Krul, A. J., & Daanen, H. A. (2009). Task specificity of finger dexterity tests. Applied ergonomics, 40(1), 145-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2008.01.014
Bhatt, T., & Pai, Y.-C. (2008). Immediate and latent interlimb transfer of gait stability adaptation following repeated exposure to slips. Journal of Motor Behavior, 40(5), 380-390. https://doi.org/10.3200/JMBR.40.5.380-390
Brandão, S. A. F. (2014). Transferência Intermanual da Aprendizagem: Estudo em Idosos de Nacionalidades Distintas numa Tarefa de Destreza Manual Fina (Doctoral dissertation, Universidade do Porto (Portugal).
Cabeza, R. (2001). Cognitive neuroscience of aging. Contributions of Functional Neuroimaging, 42(3), 277-286. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1440.009
Carroll, T. J., De Rugy, A., Howard, I. S., Ingram, J. N., & Wolpert, D. M. (2016). Enhanced crosslimb transfer of force-field learning for dynamics that are identical in extrinsic and joint-based coordinates for both limbs. Journal of neurophysiology, 115(1), 445-456. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00485.2015
De Luca, A., Giannoni, P., Vernetti, H., Capra, C., Lentino, C., Checchia, G. A., & Casadio, M. (2016). Training the unimpaired arm improves the motion of the impaired arm and the sitting balance in chronic stroke survivors. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 25(7), 873-882. https://doi.org/10.1109/TNSRE.2016.2635806
Dickins, D. S., Sale, M. V., & Kamke, M. R. (2015). Intermanual transfer and bilateral cortical plasticity is maintained in older adults after skilled motor training with simple and complex tasks. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 7, 73. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2015.00073
Farthing, J. P., Krentz, J. R., & Magnus, C. R. (2009). Strength training the free limb attenuates strength loss during unilateral immobilization. Journal of applied physiology, 106(3), 830-836. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.91331.2008
Graziadio, S., Nazarpour, K., Gretenkord, S., Jackson, A., & Eyre, J. A. (2015). Greater intermanual transfer in the elderly suggests age-related bilateral motor cortex activation is compensatory. Journal of motor behavior, 47(1), 47-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222895.2014.981501
Hinder, M. R., Carroll, T. J., & Summers, J. J. (2013). Inter-limb transfer of ballistic motor skill following non-dominant limb training in young and older adults. Experimental brain research, 227(1), 19-29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3481-9
Hinder, M. R., Schmidt, M. W., Garry, M. I., Carroll, T. J., & Summers, J. J. (2011). Absence of cross-limb transfer of performance gains following ballistic motor practice in older adults. Journal of Applied Physiology, 110(1), 166-175. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00958.2010
Holper, L., Biallas, M., & Wolf, M. (2009). Task complexity relates to activation of cortical motor areas during uni-and bimanual performance: a functional NIRS study. Neuroimage, 46(4), 1105-1113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.03.027
Imamizu, H., & Shimojo, S. (1995). The locus of visual-motor learning at the task or manipulator level: implications from intermanual transfer. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21(4), 719. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0096-1523.21.4.719
Joiner, W. M., Brayanov, J. B., & Smith, M. A. (2013). The training schedule affects the stability, not the magnitude, of the interlimb transfer of learned dynamics. Journal of neurophysiology. 110(4), 984-998. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.01072.2012
Kidgell, D. J., Frazer, A. K., & Pearce, A. J. (2017). The Effect of Task Complexity Influencing Bilateral Transfer. International Journal of Exercise Science, 10(8), 1174-1183.
Krishnan, C. (2019). Learning and interlimb transfer of new gait patterns are facilitated by distributed practice across days. Gait & posture, 70, 84-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2019.02.019
Krishnan, C., Washabaugh, E. P., Reid, C. E., Althoen, M. M., & Ranganathan, R. (2018). Learning new gait patterns: Age-related differences in skill acquisition and interlimb transfer. Experimental gerontology, 111, 45-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2018.07.001
Kumar, S., & Mandal, M. (2005). Bilateral transfer of skill in left-and right-handers. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 10(4), 337-344. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500442000120
Laszlo, J. I., Baguley, R., & Bairstow, P. (1970). Bilateral transfer in tapping skill in the absence of peripheral information. Journal of Motor Behavior, 2(4), 261-271. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222895.1970.10734884
Latash, M. L. (1999). Mirror writing: Learning, transfer, and implications for internal inverse models. Journal of Motor Behavior, 31(2), 107-111. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222899909600981
Macpherson, H., Pipingas, A., & Silberstein, R. (2009). A steady state visually evoked potential investigation of memory and ageing. Brain and cognition, 69(3), 571-579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2008.12.003
Nuzum, N. D., Teo, W. P., Macpherson, H., Loughman, A., Szymlek‐Gay, E. A., & Hendy, A. (2021). Inhibition, excitation and bilateral transfer following a unilateral complex finger‐tapping task in young and older adults. European Journal of Neuroscience, 54(7), 6608-6617. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15467
Pan, Z., Van Gemmert, & WA, A. (2013). The effects of aging on the asymmetry of inter-limb transfer in a visuomotor task. Experimental brain research, 229, 621-633. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3625-y
Parikh, P. J., & Cole, K. J. (2013). Transfer of learning between hands to handle a novel object in old age. Experimental brain research, 227(1), 9-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3451-2
Parlow, S. E., Kinsbourne, M. J. B., & cognition. (1989). Asymmetrical transfer of training between hands: implications for interhemispheric communication in normal brain. Brain and cognition, 11(1), 98-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-2626(89)90008-0
Pearce, A., Hendy, A., Bowen, W., & Kidgell, D. (2013). Corticospinal adaptations and strength maintenance in the immobilized arm following 3 weeks unilateral strength training. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 23(6), 740-748. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2012.01453.x
Poh, E., Carroll, T. J., & Taylor, J. A. (2016). Effect of coordinate frame compatibility on the transfer of implicit and explicit learning across limbs. Journal of neurophysiology, 116(3), 1239-1249. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00410.2016
Redding, G. M., & Wallace, B. (2008). Intermanual transfer of prism adaptation. Journal of Motor Behavior, 40(3), 246-264. https://doi.org/10.3200/JMBR.40.3.246-264
Sainburg, R.L., Maenza, C., Winstein, C., Good, D. (2016). Motor Lateralization Provides a Foundation for Predicting and Treating Non-paretic Arm Motor Deficits in Stroke. In: Laczko, J., Latash, M. (eds) Progress in Motor Control. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 957. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47313-0_14
Sainburg, R. L., & Wang, J. (2002). Interlimb transfer of visuomotor rotations: independence of direction and final position information. Experimental brain research, 145(4), 437-447. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-002-1140-7
Seidler, R. D., Bernard, J. A., Burutolu, T. B., Fling, B. W., Gordon, M. T., Gwin, J. T., . . . Lipps, D. B. (2010). Motor control and aging: links to age-related brain structural, functional, and biochemical effects. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 34(5), 721-733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.10.005
Stöckel, T., & Wang, J. (2011). Transfer of short-term motor learning across the lower limbs as a function of task conception and practice order. Brain and cognition, 77(2), 271-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2011.07.010
Stöckel, T., & Weigelt, M. (2012). Brain lateralisation and motor learning: Selective effects of dominant and non-dominant hand practice on the early acquisition of throwing skills. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 17(1), 18-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/1357650X.2010.524222
Swift, E. J. (1903). Studies in the psychology and physiology of learning. The American Journal of Psychology, 14(2), 201- 251. https://doi.org/10.2307/1412713
Taylor, H. G., & Heilman, K. M. (1980). Left-hemisphere motor dominance in righthandersi. Cortex, 16(4), 587-603. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-9452(80)80006-2
Wang, J., Przybyla, A., Wuebbenhorst, K., Haaland, K. Y., & Sainburg, R. L. (2011). Aging reduces asymmetries in interlimb transfer of visuomotor adaptation. Experimental brain research, 210(2), 283 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-011-2631-1
Weeks, D. L., Wallace, S. A., & Anderson, D. I. (2003). Training with an upper-limb prosthetic simulator to enhance transfer of skill across limbs. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 84(3), 437-443. https://doi.org/10.1053/apmr.2003.50014
Wieg, E. L. (1932). Bi-lateral transfer in the motor learning of young children and adults. Child Development, 3(3), 247-268. https://doi.org/10.2307/1125462
Wu, T., & Hallett, M. (2005). The influence of normal human ageing on automatic movements. The Journal of physiology, 562(2), 605-615. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2004.076042
Zolfaghari, Z., Zareian, E., & Salman, Z. (2014). The Effect of Skill Complexity during Different Time Lags on Bilateral Transfer. Annals of Applied Sport Science, 2(1), 21-30.  http://dx.doi.org/10.18869/acadpub.aassjournal.2.1.21
Journal of Sports and Motor Development and Learning
Volume 16, Issue 4
Autumn 2024
Pages 39-52

  • Receive Date 25 December 2023
  • Revise Date 13 April 2024
  • Accept Date 13 April 2024

Home

Publication Ethics

Guide for Authors

Submit Manuscript

Contact Us