Department of Kinesiology, Seattle University, Seattle, Washington.
Department of Kinesiology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
J Neurophysiol. 2021 Nov 1;126(5):1710-1722. doi: 10.1152/jn.00629.2020. Epub 2021 Oct 13.
Well-documented manual dexterity impairments in older adults may critically depend on the processing of visual information. The purpose of this study was to determine age-related changes in eye and hand movements during commonly used pegboard tests and the association with manual dexterity impairments in older adults. The relationship between attentional deficits and manual dexterity was also assessed. Eye movements and hand kinematics of 20 young (20-38 yr) and 20 older (65-85 yr) adults were recorded during 9-Hole Pegboard, Grooved Pegboard, and a visuospatial dual test. Results were compared with standardized tests of attention (The Test of Everyday Attention and Trail Making Test) that assess visual selective attention, sustained attention, attentional switching, and divided attention. Hand movement variability was 34% greater in older versus young adults when placing the pegs into the pegboard and this was associated with decreased pegboard performance, providing further evidence that increased movement variability plays a role in dexterity impairments in older adults. Older adults made more corrective saccades and spent less time gazing at the pegboard than young adults, suggesting altered visual strategies in older compared with young adults. The relationship between pegboard completion time and Trail Making Test B demonstrates an association between attentional deficits and age-related pegboard impairments. Results contribute novel findings of age-associated changes in eye movements during a commonly used manual dexterity task and offer insight into potential mechanisms underlying hand motor impairments in older adults. This eye tracking study contributes novel findings of age-associated changes in eye movements during the commonly used pegboard tests of manual dexterity, including a greater number of corrective saccades and lesser time gazing at the pegboard holes in older compared with young adults. An association between attentional deficits and dexterity impairments in older adults is also highlighted. Results shed light on potential mechanisms underlying well-documented motor deficits in older adults.
老年人手部动作灵活性的明显缺陷可能严重依赖于视觉信息的处理。本研究旨在确定在常用的销钉板测试中，与老年人手部动作灵活性缺陷相关的年龄相关性眼动和手部运动变化，以及评估注意力缺陷与手部动作灵活性之间的关系。记录了 20 名年轻（20-38 岁）和 20 名年长（65-85 岁）成年人在使用 9 孔销钉板、槽形销钉板和视空间双重测试时的眼球运动和手部运动学。结果与注意力的标准化测试（日常注意力测试和走迷宫测试）进行了比较，这些测试评估视觉选择性注意力、持续注意力、注意力转换和分散注意力。将销钉插入销钉板时，老年人的手部运动变异性比年轻人高 34%，这与销钉板性能下降有关，进一步证明了手部运动变异性的增加在老年人动作灵活性缺陷中起作用。与年轻人相比，老年人在插入销钉时会做出更多的校正扫视，注视销钉板的时间也更少，这表明老年人的视觉策略与年轻人不同。销钉板完成时间与走迷宫测试 B 之间的关系表明，注意力缺陷与年龄相关的销钉板缺陷之间存在关联。研究结果提供了关于在常用手部动作灵巧性任务中，眼球运动随年龄变化的新发现，并深入了解老年人手部运动障碍的潜在机制。本眼动研究提供了关于在常用销钉板手部灵巧性测试中，与年龄相关的眼球运动变化的新发现，包括老年人比年轻人进行更多的校正扫视，注视销钉板孔的时间更少。还强调了老年人注意力缺陷与动作灵活性缺陷之间的关联。研究结果为众所周知的老年人运动缺陷的潜在机制提供了启示。
