Association between educational status and dual-task performance in young adults.
The influence of educational status on perceptual-motor performance has not been investigated. The single- and dual-task performances of 15 Low educated adults (9 men, 6 women; M age=24.1 yr.; 6-9 yr. of education) and 15 Higher educated adults (8 men, 7 women; M age=24.7 yr.; 10-13 yr. of education) were compared. The perceptual task consisted of verbally classifying two figures (equal or different). The motor task consisted of alternating steps from the floor to a stool. Tasks were assessed individually and simultaneously. Two analyses of variance (2 groups×4 blocks) compared the errors and steps. The Low education group committed more errors and had less improvement on the perceptual task than the High education group. During and after the perceptual-motor task performance, errors increased only in the Low education group. Education correlated to perceptual and motor performance. The Low education group showed more errors and less step alternations on the perceptual-motor task compared to the High education group. This difference on the number of errors was also observed after the dual-task, when the perceptual task was performed alone.
1 Department of Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo.
Mariana Callil
MC
Voos
Maria Elisa
ME
Pimentel Piemonte
Lilian Zanchetta
LZ
Castelli
Mariane Silva
MS
Andrade Machado
Patrícia Pereira
PP
Dos Santos Teixeira
Fátima Aparecida
FA
Caromano
Luiz Eduardo
LE
Ribeiro Do Valle
D000328:Adult; D004522:Educational Status; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult