Association between Finger Tapping, Attention, Memory, and Cognitive Diagnosis in Elderly Patients. Issue 1 (August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rabinowitz, Israel; Lavner, Yizhar
• Is Part Of: Perceptual and motor skills. Volume 119:Issue 1(2014)
• Page Start: 259
• Page End: 278
• Publication Date: 2014-08
• Subjects: Perception -- Periodicals; Motor ability -- Periodicals; Motor Skills; Perception; Psychology; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 152
• DOI: 10.2466/10.22.PMS.119c12z3
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-5125

Abstract

This study examined the association between spontaneous finger tapping and cognitive function, with a detailed analysis of the two main phases of finger tapping, the touch-phase and the off-phase. 170 elderly patients (83 men, 87 women; M age = 82.1yr., SD = 6.2) underwent cognitive assessment including the Mini-Mental State Examination, a forward digit span test, and 15sec. of finger tapping. Results indicated a significant increase in the length and variability of the finger-touch phase among participants with mild cognitive impairment or dementia compared to participants with no cognitive impairment, suggesting a relationship between finger tapping and attention, short-term memory, and cognitive diagnosis. Pattern classification analyses on the finger tapping parameters indicated a specificity of 0.91 and sensitivity of 0.52 for ruling out cognitive impairment.