Motor ability and working memory in Omani and German primary school-aged children.

Petra Jansen,Clara Scheer,Kashef Zayed,Jie Zhang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209848

Petra Jansen, Clara Scheer + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209848

Copy DOI

Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Jan 14, 2019
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Regensburg, Sultan Qaboos University

Abstract

This study investigated the motor ability and working memory performance of Omani and German primary school-aged children. One hundred eighty-five children from public schools participated in a gross motor test that integrated whole body coordination, three different ball tasks, and a 20-meter run. Furthermore, they completed four working memory tests (the Digit-Span Test forward and backwards and the Corsi Block-Tapping Test forward and backwards). Two MANOVAS with the different motor and working memory tests and one univariate analysis of the general motor ability with the between-subject factors group and gender were conducted. Additionally, correlations between motor ability and working memory scores were executed. German children outperformed Omani children in the overall measurement of motor ability, (p = .01) and all aspects of working memory, (all p< .015). There were no correlations between motor and cognitive variables, when analyzing the results for the Omani and German children separately. These findings may be a result of different educational styles or socioeconomic status and must be investigated in more detail.

Highlights

It is the main goal of this study to investigate the motor ability and working memory performance of Omani and German primary school-aged children
The main goal of the study is to investigate the relation of motor ability and working memory performance in Omani and German children
The results indicate that compared to German children, Omani children showed a worse performance in working memory

Summary

Introduction

It is the main goal of this study to investigate the motor ability and working memory performance of Omani and German primary school-aged children. The investigation of motor ability is very manifold due to the multifarious differentiations: One possible differentiation is the one in gross motor skill, fine motor skill, bilateral body coordination and timed performance in movement. Physical ability, such as strength, agility, flexibility and balance, are included in in the category of gross motor skills [1]. One study that compared primary school-aged children in Cameroon and Germany indicated that Cameroonian children have a better motor ability than German children.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion