Bimanual coordination: congruent and incongruent manipulations of force and frequency in young adults and elderly

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of congruent and incongruent force and frequency manipulations during a bimanual visuomotor tracking task in young adults and elderly. Another aim was to examine the influence of aging on bimanual performances. Possible differences in coefficient of variation have also been investigated between both age groups.

Participants: The study included 21 right-handed subjects. Eleven young adults and ten elderly were proven eligible to participate in the study.

Measurements: Subjects had to execute a bimanual tracking task. They were instructed to draw a line by following a red dot on the screen. Four congruent and four incongruent tasks were set up by modulating force and frequency. Visual feedback was provided. Average target deviation was used as primary outcome measure. The secondary outcome measure, coefficient of variation (CV) of the average target deviation.

Results: Analysis revealed significant main effects of condition and age regarding average target deviation. The interaction between these variables did not reach significance. No main effects of condition or age were found for CV. Moreover, CV did not differ significantly between the examined age and condition groups.

Conclusions: Incongruent modulations were found to be more complex compared to congruent modulations. Furthermore, concerning the elderly subjects, a significant deterioration in bimanual coordination was shown. No differences in CV were proven between different age groups.