The execution of the Grooved Pegboard test in a Dual-Task situation: A pilot study

Luca Petrigna; Simona Pajaujiene; Gaetano Marco Iacona; Ewan Thomas; Antonio Paoli; Antonino Bianco; Antonio Palma

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04678

The execution of the Grooved Pegboard test in a Dual-Task situation: A pilot study

Heliyon. 2020 Aug 12;6(8):e04678. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04678. eCollection 2020 Aug.

Authors

Luca Petrigna^{1

2}, Simona Pajaujiene², Gaetano Marco Iacona¹, Ewan Thomas¹, Antonio Paoli³, Antonino Bianco¹, Antonio Palma¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
² Department of Coaching Science, Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas, Lithuania.
³ Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.

Abstract

Background: Manual dexterity is an important aspect in everyday life, which is widely studied through the Grooved Pegboard Test (GPT). Since Dual-Tasks (DT) activities are widely investigated and important to simulate everyday life situations, the objectives of the present pilot study were the evaluation of the effect of a cognitive task and a motor task during the performance of the GPT and the feasibility of the GPT in a DT contest. A secondary objective was to evaluate the training effect of the GPT.

Methods: A total of 31 young adults (20 man and 11 woman, age (SD): 27.7 (2.5)) performed the GPT eight times to understand the presence of a training effect before performing the GPT in DT. The additional tasks were a secondary cognitive task and a secondary motor task.

Results: All participants were able to complete the required conditions. The GPT performed in motor DT were significantly slower than those performed singularly (p < 0.01). The GPT performed with the cognitive task was slower than the secondary motor task (p < 0.05). A training effect was present up to the 4^th consecutive trial.

Conclusions: The GPT can be executed with a cognitive or motor task to increase the difficulty of the trial to better evaluate manual dexterity and cognitive capacities.

Keywords: Counting backward test; Finger tapping test; Manual dexterity; Musculoskeletal system; Neurology; Neuroscience; Physiology; Public health; Secondary task.