This small study compared the dynamic and static motor capacities of each finger among elderly individuals who engaged in hobbies that involved daily use of the hands, and those that did not.

Aoki T, and Kadota K. Effects of Daily Hand Activities on Age-Related Declines of Dynamic Motor Function in Individual Fingers. Motor Control (Ahead of Print). https://doi.org/10.1123/mc.2020-0085

KEY POINTS: HAND DEXTERITY & MOTOR FUNCTION

• Aging is characterized by a decline in manual dexterity, and may be quantified by decreased grip force, decreased tapping frequency, and prolonged timing for the pegboard test.
• Reports from static motor function studies on individual fingers show that the lower maximum pinch force in older adults is greatly reduced, compared with young adults.¹
  • Pinch force is a precision grip whereby an object is pinched in three ways: lateral pinch, three-point pinch, and two-point pinch.
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Age-Related Reduction in Motor Adaptation

Wolpe N, Ingram J, Tsvetanov K, et al. (2020). Age-related reduction in motor adaptation: brain structural correlates and the role of explicit memory. Neurobiology of Aging 90: 13-23.

The authors of this study examined the differences in the brain structure and cognition underlying motor adaptation in a population-based cohort. Results support the hypothesis that sensorimotor adaptation is a composite of multiple learning strategies, which are differentially affected by age, and the authors conclude that "that across the lifespan, motor adaptation declines with age as a result of the deteriorating explicit learning system".

Key Points: Motor Adaptation and Age Related Changes

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Effects of Daily Hand Activities on Age-Related Declines of Dynamic Motor Function in Individual Fingers

Aoki T, and Kadota K. Effects of Daily Hand Activities on Age-Related Declines of Dynamic Motor Function in Individual Fingers. Motor Control (Ahead of Print). https://doi.org/10.1123/mc.2020-0085

This small study compared the dynamic and static motor capacities of each finger among elderly individuals who engaged in hobbies that involved daily use of the hands, and those that did not.

Key Points

• Aging is characterized by a decline in manual dexterity, and may be quantified by decreased grip force, decreased tapping frequency, and prolonged timing for the pegboard test.
• Reports from static motor function...