Examining the Relationship Between Digital and Clinical Motor Tests

In this thesis, the relationship between digital and clinical motor tests will be examined. These tests will be performed on adults of older age (~66 years). Most participants are those who are concerned about developing, or already have, a neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The digital test that is given and evaluated is Neurotrax. Clinical motor tasks being administered include the Purdue Pegboard, Box & Blocks, Grip Strength, and Pincer Grip. Correlations between motor skills from NeuoTrax and each clinical task were calculated and analyzed. Statistical analysis of this data was done with Excel Data Analysis Toolpak. Means and standard errors were also calculated. Results indicated that Pincer Grip Strength (N) and Color Trails (%) had strong correlations with NeuroTrax Motor Skills, with correlation coefficients of 0.562 and -0.510, respectively. These associations between the NeuroTrax Motor skills assessment and clinical motor tasks may suggest that executive function and grip strength are mostly represented as motor skill domain in digital tests. Future work should examine other motor domains such as dexterity, variability, timing, and muscular efficiency aspects of digital motor assessments.