Chen Fu-Chen, Chu Chia-Hua, Pan Chien-Yu, Tsai Chia-Liang
Department of Physical Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, No. 116, Heping 1st Rd., Lingya Dist., Kaohsiung City 802, Taiwan.
Department of Physical Education, National Kaohsiung Normal University, No. 116, Heping 1st Rd., Lingya Dist., Kaohsiung City 802, Taiwan.
Gait Posture. 2018 May;62:105-110. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2018.03.018. Epub 2018 Mar 7.
Prior studies demonstrated that, compared to no fingertip touch (NT), a reduction in body sway resulting from the effects of light fingertip touch (LT) facilitates the performance of visual search, buttressing the concept of functional integration. However, previous findings may be confounded by different arm postures required between the NT and LT conditions. Furthermore, in older adults, how LT influences the interactions between body sway and visual search has not been established.
(1) Are LT effects valid after excluding the influences of different upper limb configurations? (2) Is functional integration is feasible for older adults?
Twenty-two young (age = 21.3 ± 2.0) and 22 older adults (age = 71.8 ± 4.1) were recruited. Participants performed visual inspection and visual searches under NT and LT conditions.
The older group significantly reduced AP sway (p < 0.05) in LT compared to NT conditions, of which the LT effects on postural adaptation were more remarkable in older than young adults (p < 0.05). In addition, the older group significantly improved search accuracy (p < 0.05) from the LT to the NT condition, and these effects were equivalent between groups.
After controlling for postural configurations, the results demonstrate that light fingertip touch reduces body sway and concurrently enhances visual search performance in older adults. These findings confirmed the effects of LT on postural adaptation as well as supported functional integration in older adults.
先前的研究表明，与无指尖触摸（NT）相比，轻指尖触摸（LT）对身体摆动的减少作用促进了视觉搜索的表现，支持了功能整合的概念。然而，先前的研究结果可能受到NT和LT条件下所需不同手臂姿势的混淆。此外，在老年人中，LT如何影响身体摆动和视觉搜索之间的相互作用尚未明确。
（1）排除不同上肢配置的影响后，LT效应是否仍然有效？（2）功能整合对老年人是否可行？
招募了22名年轻人（年龄=21.3±2.0）和22名老年人（年龄=71.8±4.1）。参与者在NT和LT条件下进行视觉检查和视觉搜索。
与NT条件相比，老年组在LT条件下的前后向摆动显著减少（p<0.05），其中LT对姿势适应的影响在老年人中比年轻人更显著（p<0.05）。此外，老年组从LT条件到NT条件的搜索准确性显著提高（p<0.05），且这些效应在两组之间相当。
在控制姿势配置后，结果表明轻指尖触摸可减少老年人的身体摆动，并同时提高视觉搜索性能。这些发现证实了LT对姿势适应的影响，并支持了老年人的功能整合。
