The Effect Of Dıfferent Cognıtıve Tasks On Manual Dexterıty And Dual Task Performance In Gerıatrıc Indıvıduals

Aging is a natural, universal and inevitable process seen in all living things. With aging, structural and functional irreversible degenerative changes occur in molecules, cells, tissues, organs and systems in living organisms. These changes, which extend from cells to systems in aging, may cause limitations in the functions necessary for elderly individuals to maintain their daily life activities such as walking, balance, coordination, visual and auditory skills, cognitive skills and dexterity. WHO defines old age as the period between 65-74 years of age as young old age, 75-84 years of age as middle-aged, and 85 years and older as old age (old age). Manual dexterity is the ability to move an object in a desired manner and is necessary to carry out activities of daily living. Decreases in dexterity may occur with aging, which leads to limitation of activities of daily living. Impaired dexterity leads to a progressive deterioration in the performance of activities of daily living that require the use of the hands. Therefore, the ability of older adults to live comfortably and independently is negatively affected. Numerous factors such as loss of grip strength, sensory disabilities, decreased vision, neuro-muscular problems and cognitive decline can lead to impaired dexterity in older adults. It has been shown that there is a further decline in dexterity with increasing age. One of the reasons affecting manual dexterity in the elderly is cognitive functions. Cognitive functions are a set of functions that enable the perception and understanding of all kinds of inputs received from the sensory organs. These functions include alertness, attention, memory, executive functions, planning, abstraction, language skills, time-space orientation and arithmetic. As with all physiological structures, cognitive functions are also impaired with aging. As age advances, impairments in cognitive functions become more noticeable. The term Dual Task (DT) refers to the ability to perfor