Tempo de reacgao e tempo de antecipacao-coincidencia na mao preferida e na mao nao preferida do Idoso. Estudo em praticantes e nao praticantes de exercício físico
Tempo de reacgao e tempo de antecipacao-coincidencia na mao preferida e na mao nao preferida do Idoso. Estudo em praticantes e nao praticantes de exercício físico
Abstract
The present study is characterized as exploratory and intends to investigate simple reaction time and anticipation-coincidence time, in preferred and not preferred hands, in elder persons sedentary and practitioners of physical exercise. The instrument used for evaluation of manual preference was Van Strien’s Dutch Handedness Questionnaire (1992). For evaluation of anticipation-coincidence time Bassin Anticipation Timer was used, built by Lafayett Instrument Company in 1976 and to evaluate the reaction time, we used Multi-Choice Reaction Time Apparatus. The pattern is constituted by 86 individuals, 42 males and 44 females, with ages between 60 and 89 years (the average of age is 73,73 ±7,43 years), visitors of centres in the daytime of Maia’s council and participants in the project ” No Porto a Vida é Longa…” . The seniors were contained in three age classes: ofthe 60 at the 69 (group 1), ofthe 70 at the 79 (group 2) and of the 80 to the 89 years of age (group 3). The anticipation- coincidence capacity and the reaction time were analysed in function of three independent variables: gender, age and the practice of physical exercise. The applied statistics were descriptive (average and standard deviation) and inferential (Independent-Sample t Test and Anova I Factor). The test post hoc used was Schéffe’s multiple comparisons. To establish associations among the dependent variables (anticipation-coincidence and reaction time) was used the correlation coefficient r of Pearson.
The results indicate that: (i) the manual preference doesn’t vary in function of gender; (ii) males presented better performances in reaction time than females in both preferred and non preferred hands. They also revealed larger precision, consistency and smaller delays in anticipation-coincidence time in both hands; (iii) reaction time increases along the groups of age, the same was verified in anticipation-coincidence test with loss of precision, consistency and delay in the answers, in both hands; (iv) the regular practice of physical exercise influenced significantly reaction time and anticipation-coincidence time, in both hands; (v) a moderate correlation was observed among reaction time and anticipation-coincidence time, however, the correlation among both hands in each on ofthe applied test was highly positive.
