Abstract

RODRIGUES, Jussara de Lima; FERREIRA, Fernanda de Oliveira  and  HAASE, Vitor Geraldi. Motor and cognitive performance profile of adults and older people. Gerais, Rev. Interinst. Psicol. [online]. 2008, vol.1, n.1, pp. 20-33. ISSN 1983-8220.

Motor and cognitive performance in neurologically healthy adults and older people was examined in a random sample of 300 individuals from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Formal schooling ranged from 1 to 25 years, and age varied from 18 to 90 years-old. Participants were evaluated through the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), Nine Hole Peg Test (9-HPT) and Timed Walking of 25 feet (TW-25). Regression analyses showed that age influences motor performance (14% of explained variance for the upper limbs and 11% for the lower limbs), while cognitive speed was better explained by education (10,6% of explained variance). Receiver-Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves analyses pointed out to a decline in cognitive performance in individuals with lower level of schooling (less than 10 years) and worse motor performance in older individuals (more than 60 years-old). Education and age are important variables to be taken into consideration in motor and cognitive assessments.

Keywords : cognition; motor coordination; aging; PASAT.

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