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04:40
Tactile Semiautomatic Passive-Finger Angle Stimulator (TSPAS)
Published on: July 30, 2020
Cognitive and tactile factors affecting human haptic performance in later life
Tobias Kalisch1, Jan-Christoph Kattenstroth, Rebecca Kowalewski
1Department of Neurology, BG-Kliniken Bergmannsheil, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. tobias.kalisch@rub.de
Plos One
|February 1, 2012
Summary
Older adults
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Human Perception
- Gerontology
Background:
- Haptic and visual modalities share neural resources for object exploration.
- Haptic processing understanding lags behind vision.
- Age-related decline in haptic performance is known, but underlying mechanisms are unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate age-related changes in haptic object recognition.
- Determine the roles of tactile acuity and cognitive capacity in this decline.
- Examine gender differences in haptic performance decline.
Main Methods:
- Assessed haptic performance via cross-modal object recognition in 81 older adults.
- Measured tactile acuity using a two-point discrimination paradigm.
- Evaluated cognitive performance with Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices.
Main Results:
- Significant age-related declines observed in haptic, tactile, and cognitive performance.
- Decline was more pronounced in females for haptic and cognitive tests.
- Strong correlation found between haptic and cognitive performance across all participants.
Conclusions:
- Haptic object recognition is challenging for older adults, particularly with complex objects.
- Cognitive capacity has a greater impact on haptic performance than tactile acuity in aging.
- Increased co-variation between sensory and cognitive functions is evident in older age.
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