School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
The Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
J Mot Behav. 2023;55(1):68-77. doi: 10.1080/00222895.2022.2105793. Epub 2022 Jul 28.
There is high inter-individual variability in motor skill learning among older adults. Identifying the nature of these individual differences remains challenging due to interactions between participant characteristics (e.g., age, cognition) and task-related factors (e.g., nature of task, level of skill pre-training), making it difficult to determine plausibly causal relationships. This study addresses these competing explanations by using mediation analysis to examine plausible causal inference between visuospatial memory and one-month retention of both gross and fine motor components of a functional upper-extremity task following training. Results suggest that better visuospatial memory results in more retention of fine but not gross motor skill, expanding on previous correlational studies in older adults and informing future interventions for maximizing motor learning in geriatric populations.
老年人的运动技能学习存在高度的个体间变异性。由于参与者特征（例如年龄、认知）和与任务相关的因素（例如任务的性质、技能预先训练的水平）之间的相互作用，确定这些个体差异的性质仍然具有挑战性，这使得确定合理的因果关系变得困难。本研究通过中介分析来解决这些相互竞争的解释，以检查在训练后，视空间记忆与功能上肢任务的精细和粗略运动成分的一个月保留之间的合理因果关系。结果表明，更好的视空间记忆导致精细运动技能的保留更多，而不是粗糙运动技能的保留更多，这扩展了以前在老年人中的相关研究，并为最大限度地提高老年人群体的运动学习提供了未来的干预措施。
