Age Differences in Movement Pattern

THE literature which describes studies of detailed hand movement patterns contains few references to changes in acceleration during these movements. Such references as do occur are mainly to be found in books on motion study and suggest that a movement occurs in three phases: an acceleration phase to a steady speed, followed by deceleration. For example, Lowry et al. 1 give a curve purporting to show this pattern without quoting any evidence support it. Experimental work carried out here2 and at Cambridge by Singleton3 suggested that movement patterns of older people might differ from those of young and, since no relevant evidence could be found in the literature, an ultra high-speed chrono-cyclographic technique was developed in order to make a detailed study of movement patterns.