Age and sex differences in proprioception based on fine motor behaviour
Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This PhD thesis contributes to a synthesis of the bibliographic material reviewed from original sources written in various languages (and thus sometimes unknown in the scientific community at international level, since they were not published in English) and to scientific research by findings and results from experimental work carried out at the Mira y López Laboratory of the University of Barcelona on topics related to individual differences in proprioception based on fine motor behaviour. The main aim of this work is to show the importance of proprioceptive sense, as a basis of individual differences, for human health and life quality. Most of the experimental work is related to sex and age-dependent differences in human fine behaviour, thus allowing analysis and understanding of those differences. When self-correction of behaviour is not possible (the person does not see the feedback of his/her movements), the expression reflects the intrinsic qualities of each person based both on biological or endogenous factors or ones specific to the nervous system and adaptive behaviour learnt during his/her own experience with environmental interactions. \n\n\t\t\t\t Experimental work was carried out with use of the latest proprioceptive diagnostics which was a result of many years of work within the Mira y Lopez myokinetic psychodiagnosis (MKP) tradition, Proprioceptive Diagnostics of Temperament and Character or DP-TC in Spanish abbreviation (Tous, Muiños, Tous, O. i Tous, R., 2012). DP-TC was a result of digitization and statistical validation of MKP lineograms’ and parallels` parts. Thus, due to this special software, graphomotor fine behaviour (precision and speed) can be registered and measured and converted to the metric system: from pixels to millimetres. For the study of individual differences, various movement types were used: frontal, transversal and sagittal, both hands and two sensory conditions: proprioceptive-visual (PV), where the integration function of both sensory conditions can be observed, and proprioceptive-only (P). The experimental studies were cross-sectional and analysed for sex- and age-dependent individual differences mainly, although a brief résumé of other studies was included, showing the relationship between proprioceptive information feedback and both emotion and cognition, at the end of this thesis. \n\n\t\t\t\t The major contributions of this work are the following: \n\n\n\t\t\t\t - synthetic bibliographical work on the topic of proprioception and individual differences and importance for human health and quality of life, which is conducted for the first time and can be used for wider understanding in order to carry out future research and application (more effective therapeutic and educational work), and can be used and adapted to form part of a program, especially for psychological, pedagogical and neurological faculties; \n\n\t\t\t\t - brief description of fine motor behaviour in different cultures: Arabic (in which the custom is to write in a different direction to Western people); and Belarus (for the latter some results are given, together with relationships to verbal and other physical parameters) is represented in the initial part of the thesis; \n\n\t\t\t\t - an age-dependent proprioceptive differences study based on fine motor behaviour in 196 participants from 12 to 95 years old, in which the polynomial function was of the best fit for size (line length tracings) in frontal and transversal movements; \n\n\t\t\t\t - it was shown that proprioception function was the first to deteriorate in precision with increasing age value if compared to the integrative function of both sensory inputs (proprioceptive and visual); \n\n\t\t\t\t - the crucial ages for age-dependent changes were shown for the first time; these results give the first experimental support for the age of the mid-life crisis (approx. 40 years); \n\n\t\t\t\t - sex-dependent differences and sex*age-dependent differences were analysed and discussed also; \n\n\t\t\t\t - a correlational analysis was performed between precision and fine motor speed in two sensory conditions of the test; \n\n\t\t\t\t - practical applications of study results together with the future potential research interests in the area of proprioception and individual differences are given in the final part of the work.
Author: Liudmila Liutsko
Language: English
Topic: Motor Control and Adaptation
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W59095863