The Learning Effect of Hand Dexterity between Old and Young People

Abstract

When Taiwan moved towards an aging society, there are very rich studies for the elderly in academic. The past, many studies focus on physical function decline, but less study focused on the age influence on hand function learning effect. The purpose of this study is use of a learning curve model to explore the difference between elder and youth in the handedness dexterity. Twenty youth and 20 elder were recruited. A Purdue pegboard was used to measure the dominant hand dexterity for 15 times, and a 20-second rest was given between successive trials. A learning curve in power function was modeled for each participant, and the associated theoretical time to complete the first trial () and learning rate () were calculated. The ANOVA result indicated that the learning rate between youth and elder was not significantly different, but elder had significantly longer . That is, for pure motor skill, degeneration in hand dexterity due to aging only slows the moving speed, but does not shift the learning rate. Therefore, to reach a present industrial standard elder need more practice, otherwise, we should reduce the standard to match the physical capabilities of elders.

Keywords: Learning curves, elder, motor skill, hand dexterity

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100454