Does left-right discrimination ability of adults change with age?

DOI Web Site Web Site

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • 中高年者の左右識別力に関する検討
  • 中高年者の左右識別力に関する検討 : 八雲研究での住民検診資料から
  • チュウコウネンシャ ノ サユウ シキベツリョク ニ カンスル ケントウ : ヤクモ ケンキュウ デ ノ ジュウミン ケンシン シリョウ カラ
  • 八雲研究での住民検診資料から

Search this article

Abstract

Age-related changes in left-right discrimination, which mainly reflect visuospatial processing, were investigated. We developed a modified version of the Money Road-Map Test (MRMT: Money et al., 1965), which assesses the accuracy of left-right orientation, with and without egocentric mental rotation in space. The MRMT is used for the health screening of community residents. Healthy middle-aged (N = 236, 55-64 years of age), young-old (N = 129, 65-74 years of age) and old-old (N = 252, 75-92 years of age) participants responded to a modified version of the MRMT comprising of 12 turns, each of which could be assigned to one of the three categories of mental rotation proposed by Vingerhoets et al. (1996): no mental rotation (NR, n = 2), half-mental rotation (HR, n = 5) and full-mental rotation (FR, n = 5). Each participant walked on a street from its entrance to the exit using a paper road map. The participants were required to respond to commands for turning left or right at the end of the street verbally. An age group (Middle/Young-Old/Old-Old) × Sex (Female/Male) x Rotation type (NR/HR/FR) ANOVA was conducted for the correct number of turns. Results indicated the main effects of age-related decline, male advantage, and the decline in egocentric mental rotations, although the three-way interaction was not significant. However, the interaction between Sex and Rotation type was significant, indicating that the decline of egocentric mental rotation was more pronounced in women than men. These results suggest that left-right discrimination decreases as a result of the egocentric mental rotation burden, which reflects visuospatial processing. However, the deterioration of left-right discrimination as a function of egocentric mental rotation did not change with age. The study suggests that the deterioration of left-right discrimination of egocentric mental rotation, which reflects visuospatial processing, is more pronounced in women than men.

Journal

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top