Effects of Increased Physiological Arousal on Upper Extremity Reaction and Movement Times in Healthy Young Adults

Kovacs Kovacs

doi:10.3844/amjnsp.2010.28.33

Abstract

Problem statement: Research has suggested that examining attentional demands during functional tasks is an emergent area of study. Increased arousal may represent an attentional demand, resulting in impaired motor functioning in tasks that require fast reaction and movement times. Approach: This study examined the effects of a non-specific stressor and the resultant physiological arousal on upper extremity functional measures of motor performance. Forty-four young adult participants (X age = 20.6) were randomly assigned to either a stress/arousal group or non-stress control group. Arousal was altered through the use of the Stroop Color Word Task and mental subtraction tasks. Results: Paired-sample analyses revealed significant differences (p<.037) from pre to post test for measures of reaction time in the stress group. No significant differences were seen for measures of movement time (p<.095) in the stress group. Conclusion: These results suggest that increased levels of physiological arousal may alter reaction time, movement time and resultant motor functioning in healthy young adults. This increase in physiological arousal may be the result of non- specific external stressors and have significant implications for movement production accuracy in multiple populations, including older adults. Further research examining this effect in older adults is ongoing.

Highlights

A significant amount of research has examined theBoth younger and older adults often demonstrate increased arousal when having to perform sudden, unexpected motor tasks, such as stepping over an dual-task paradigm and its effects on measures of motor performance using a variety of motor tasks (Brown et al, 1999; Maki and McIlroy, 1996)
Much of the might occur with an increase in physiological arousal, everyday activities that may increase stress, or arousal during functional tasks is an emergent area of study and levels in young and older adults alike, are often nonshould be extensively examined by investigators in our specific
Upper Extremity (UE) “as fast as possible” from a button placed to their right to a secondary button placed to the Participants: Using a pre-test/post-test design, 44 young adult participants with a mean age of 20.6 (+/- 1.1 year) were examined

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Both younger and older adults often demonstrate increased arousal when having to perform sudden, unexpected motor tasks, such as stepping over an dual-task paradigm and its effects on measures of motor performance using a variety of motor tasks (Brown et al, 1999; Maki and McIlroy, 1996). Neuroscience 1 (2): 28-33, 2010 through a crowded environment, are affected by simple, Twenty-two participants were randomly assigned everyday stressors that may slightly activate the central to an arousal group that was tested on reaction and nervous system Tasks such as driving an movement time measures following an eight-minute automobile are often become more difficult under stress protocol. This suggests that simple mental challenges may be a useful method of increasing non-specific physiological arousal levels in younger adults This increased activation of the central nervous system may act as a competing “task”, impairing performance of the first, or primary task, of responding to an external stimulus.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RESULTS

DISCUSSION