Citation

Tajmir P, Grierson LE, Carnahan H. Can. J. Aging 2013; 32(2): 195-202.

Affiliation

1 Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Cambridge Press)

DOI

10.1017/S0714980813000184

PMID

23664002

Abstract

The impact of exposure to cold on individuals' motor skills demands a deeper understanding of the ways in which cold weather influences psychomotor and haptic performance. In this study, various facets of psychomotor performance were evaluated in order to determine the impacts of ambient cold exposure on older persons. Healthy younger and older persons performed a battery of haptic psychomotor tests at room (23° C) and cold (1° C) ambient temperatures. The results indicate that older individuals do not perform as well as younger persons across the battery of tests, with cold temperature further degrading their performance in dexterity tasks (in, for example, Minnesota Manual Dexterity test placing: F [1, 16] = 10.23, p < .01) and peak precision grip force generation (F [1, 16] = 18.97, p < .01). The results suggest that cold weather may have an impact on the occupations older persons are able to perform during the winter months.

Language: en