Background/Study Context

We assessed the influence of wearing an Age Simulation Suit (GERT) on gross motor, fine motor and cognitive performance in healthy young adults.

Methods

In a within-subjects design, we tested 20 young adults (M _age = 22.3 years) with and without the Age Simulation Suit. We assessed gross motor (Functional Fitness test) and fine motor (Purdue Pegboard test) functioning, cognitive performance (Digit Symbol Substitution test), and questionnaires on perceived physical state and mood. Gross and fine motor tests provided norms for large samples of older adults.

Results

Wearing the Age Simulation Suit leads to significant performance reductions in all task dimensions, with large effect sizes. Depending on the subtest, participants’ performances were reduced to the level of mid-50- to 85-years-olds for almost all tests of gross and fine motor performance. Mood and perceived physical state also declined while wearing the suit.

Conclusion

We argue that the GERT suit offers an attractive possibility to experimentally simulate the effects of aging-related sensory and motor losses and propose future studies with this paradigm, in the context of cognitive-motor dual-tasking or motor learning.

中文翻译：

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年龄模拟服如何影响年轻人的运动和认知能力以及自我知觉。

背景/研究背景

我们评估了在健康的年轻人中穿着年龄模拟服（GERT）对总体运动，精细运动和认知能力的影响。

方法

在受试者内部设计中，我们测试了20位 有或没有年龄模拟服的年轻人（M _年龄= 22.3岁）。我们评估了总运动（功能适应性测试）和精细运动（Purdue Pegboard测试）的功能，认知能力（数字符号替代测试）以及关于感知的身体状态和情绪的问卷。粗运动测试和精细运动测试为老年人的大量样本提供了规范。

结果

穿着年龄模拟服会导致所有任务尺寸的性能显着下降，且效果尺寸较大。根据子测试的不同，几乎所有粗略和精细运动表现的测试都将参与者的表现降低到50至85岁之间的水平。穿着西装时情绪和感知的身体状态也有所下降。

结论

我们认为，GERT套装提供了一种有吸引力的可能性，可以通过实验模拟与衰老相关的感觉和运动丧失的影响，并在认知运动双重任务或运动学习的背景下，提出使用该范例的未来研究方案。