Exploring the relationship between visuospatial function and age-related deficits in motor skill transfer
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Exploring the relationship between visuospatial function and age‑related deficits in motor skill transfer Jennapher Lingo VanGilder1 · Christopher S. Walter2 · Caitlin R. Hengge3 · Sydney Y. Schaefer1,4 Received: 13 June 2019 / Accepted: 31 August 2019 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Abstract Background Generalizing learned information from one motor task to another is critical for effective motor rehabilitation. A recent study demonstrated age-related declines in motor skill transfer, yet findings from other motor learning studies suggest that visuospatial impairments may explain such aging effects. Aims The purpose of this secondary analysis was to test whether age-related deficits in motor skill transfer were related to low visuospatial ability. Methods Forty-two participants (mean ± SD age: 72.1 ± 9.9 years) were tested on an upper extremity dexterity task before and after 3 days of training on an upper extremity reaching task. Training and control data have been published previously. Prior to training, global cognitive status and specific cognitive domains (visuospatial/executive, attention, and delayed memory) were evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Results Backward-stepwise linear regression indicated that the Visuospatial/Executive subtest was related to motor skill transfer (i.e., the amount of change in performance on the untrained motor task), such that participants with higher visuospatial scores improved more on the untrained dexterity task than those with lower scores. Global cognitive status was unrelated to motor skill transfer. Discussion Consistent with previous studies showing a positive relationship between visuospatial function and other aspects of motor learning, this secondary analysis indicates that less motor skill transfer among older adults may indeed be due to declines in visuospatial function. Conclusions The present study highlights the potential utility of assessing older patients’ visuospatial ability within motor rehabilitation to provide valuable insight into the extent to which they may learn and generalize motor skills through training. Keywords Motor control · Rehabilitation · Cognitive aging
Introduction Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-019-01345-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Sydney Y. Schaefer [email protected] 1
School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, 501 E. Tyler Mall, MC 9709, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
2
Department of Physical Therapy, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 W. Markham St., Little Rock, AR 72205, USA
3
University of Utah Hospital, 50 N. Medical Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA
4
Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
Motor skill learning is fundamental to clinical motor rehabilitation [1], such that patients relearn motor skills necessary for the activities of dail
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