COMPUTERIZED MEASURES OF FINGER TAPPING: EFFECTS OF HAND DOMINANCE, AGE, AND SEX1,2

Introduction: Current diagnostic criteria for depression include psychomotor retardation, being the Finger Tapping Test (FTT) as one of the most utilized instruments to assess fine psychomotor performance.Method: This study aimed to compare the performance of a sample of 51 unipolar depressed patients (30 women and 21 men, with a mean age of 45.12 years old [SD = 14.09]) with 51 healthy controls (29 women and 22 men, with a mean age of 44.49 years old [SD = 15.59]) in a computerized version of the Finger Tapping Test (FTT) from the Psychology Experiment Building Language (PEBL). Another objective was to test this version’s validity in comparison to other FTTs.Results: We found significant differences between depressed patients and healthy controls. Significant effects of age and gender were found.Conclusion: Results allowed us to identify differences in performance between the two groups, therefore this version of the FTT revealed adequate reliability values, one instrument accessible to all clinicians.

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Gender and hand dominance on fine motor skills among Grade 1–7 learners with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

South African Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1177/0081246319846076 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 92-102

Author(s):

Refilwe Gloria Pila-Nemutandani ◽

Basil Joseph Pillay ◽

Anneke Meyer

Keyword(s):

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Motor Skills ◽

Attention Deficit ◽

Finger Tapping ◽

Fine Motor ◽

Dominant Hand ◽

Hand Dominance ◽

Fine Motor Skills ◽

Motor Speed ◽

Hyperactivity Disorder

Children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder encounter difficulties in many activities in their daily lives that require motor coordination skills. The aim of this study was to establish whether children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have deficits in fine motor skills. Eighty male and female learners diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder matched with 80 non-attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder from the North West and Limpopo provinces (South Africa), aged 7–13 years, participated in the study. All participants completed the grooved pegboard test, the maze coordination task, and the finger tapping test. These instruments measure various functions of motor speed and eye–hand coordination. The findings reveal that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder performed significantly poorer than the control group with regard to the grooved pegboard and maze coordination tasks, but not with the finger tapping task. There were no gender differences in all the tests. Performance on the maze coordination task with the non-dominant hand was poorer for the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder group with regard to the time taken to complete the task. However, no hand dominance differences were found on the grooved pegboard and finger tapping tests. The study revealed a relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptomatology and motor problems with regard to complex tasks of accuracy, but not on a simple task of motor speed. It is, therefore, recommended that since children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder show motor deficiencies, motor skill training should be considered as part of the intervention, as these skills are needed for many daily activities and academic competencies.

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State and trait of finger tapping performance in multiple sclerosis

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-96485-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Philipp Gulde ◽

Heike Vojta ◽

Joachim Hermsdörfer ◽

Peter Rieckmann

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Inpatient Rehabilitation ◽

Disease Status ◽

Time Of Day ◽

Mixed Effects ◽

Clinical Severity ◽

Finger Tapping ◽

Hand Dominance ◽

Linear Mixed Effects

AbstractFinger tapping tests have been shown feasible to assess motor performance in multiple sclerosis (MS) and were observed to be strongly associated with the estimated clinical severity of the disease. Therefore, tapping tests could be an adequate tool to assess disease status in MS. In this study we examined potential influencing factors on a maximum tapping task with the whole upper-limb for 10 s in 40 MS patients using linear mixed effects modelling. Patients were tested in three sessions with two trials per body-side per session over the course of 4–27 days of inpatient rehabilitation. Tested factors were the expanded disability scale (EDSS) score, laterality of MS, age, sex, hand dominance, time of day, session, trial (first or second), time between sessions, and the reported day form. A second model used these factors to examine the self-reported day form of patients. Linear mixed effects modelling indicated the tapping test to have a good inter-trial (proportional variance < 0.01) and inter-session reliability (non-significant; when controlling for time between sessions), an influence of hand-dominance (proportional variance 0.08), to be strongly associated with the EDSS (eta2 = 0.22, interaction with laterality of MS eta2 = 0.12) and to be not associated with the reported day form. The model explained 87% (p < 0.01) of variance in tapping performance. Lastly, we were able to observe a positive effect of neurologic inpatient rehabilitation on task performance obvious from a significant effect of the time between sessions (eta2 = 0.007; longer time spans between sessions were associated with higher increments in performance). Day form was only impacted by EDSS and the time of the day (p < 0.01, R2 = 0.57, eta2TIME = 0.017, eta2EDSS = 01.19). We conclude that the tapping test is a reliable and valid assessment tool for MS.

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Computerized measures of finger tapping: Reliability, malingering and traumatic brain injury

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology ◽

10.1080/13803395.2013.824070 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 35 (7) ◽

pp. 745-758 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Kerry A. Hubel ◽

E. William Yund ◽

Timothy J. Herron ◽

David L. Woods

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Finger Tapping ◽

Computerized Measures

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Self-Report vs. Computerized Measures of Impulsivity as a Correlate of Suicidal Behavior

Crisis ◽

10.1027//0227-5910.22.1.27 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 27-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

Netta Horesh

Keyword(s):

Suicidal Behavior ◽

Attention Deficit Disorder ◽

Impulse Control ◽

Performance Test ◽

Adolescent Suicide ◽

Continuous Performance Test ◽

Self Report ◽

Suicide Attempters ◽

Computerized Measures ◽

Adolescent Suicide Attempters

Objectives: To compare the use of a self-report form of impulsivity versus a computerized test of impulsivity in the assessment of suicidal adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Methods: Sixty consecutive admissions to an adolescent in patient unit were examined. The severity of suicidal behavior was measured with the Childhood Suicide Potential Scale (CSPS), and impulse control was measured with the self report Plutchik Impulse Control Scale (ICS) and with the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), a continuous performance test (CPT). The TOVA is used to diagnose adolescents with attention deficit disorder. Results: There was a significant but low correlation between the two measures of impulsivity. Only the TOVA commission and omission errors differentiated between adolescent suicide attempters and nonattempters. Conclusions: Computerized measures of impulsivity may be a useful way to measure impulsivity in adolescent suicide attempters. Impulsivity appears to play a small role only in nondepressed suicidal adolescents, especially boys.

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