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Age-Related Differences In Motor Performance, Jessica Anne Prebor

Rehabilitation Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this work was to study the age effects on average performance and variability of movement responses in children, young adults, and older adults across multiple motor tasks. Optimal motor performance is observed in healthy young adults with declines observed at either end of the lifespan. This pattern has been represented as a U-shaped/inverted U-shaped curve. Little is known about if this pattern persists in chewing dynamics. While chewing has been found to improve aspects of attention, a cognitive function, research is limited on the relationship between chewing and other motor tasks.

The first aim of this research …