The ability to pinch an object precisely is an essential function of the hand. The primary objective of this experiment was to examine the effect of aging on the perception of a pinch-grip force exerted by the thumb and index finger. Twelve young (25.3 +/- 2.4 yr.) and twelve older (71.4 +/- 3.3 yr.) healthy adults executed unilateral and bilateral pinch-grip tasks with and without visual feedback. The performance of the older group was worse than that of the younger individuals when asked to reproduce a pinch force. Specifically, the older adults tended to produce an initial overshoot in force which then decreased towards the required force. However, no difference existed between the two age groups when they were asked to produce a same force with both hands simultaneously. These results suggest that the normal aging process has a more significant effect on sensorimotor memory than on the output of descending motor commands.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.80260 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Fang, Nathan |
| Contributors | De Serres, Sophie J. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (School of Physical and Occupational Therapy.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002141491, proquestno: AAIMQ98629, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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