Effects of Aging and Tai Chi on a Finger-Pointing Task with a Choice Paradigm

Table 2

Comparison of anterior deltoid reaction time, movement time, end-point accuracy, and number of errors in finger pointing with a choice paradigm.

	Young control subjects	Older control subjects	Tai Chi subjects	𝑃
	(𝑛=30)	(𝑛=30)	(𝑛=31)
EMG reaction time (ms)
Middle left	430.8±90.9	569.4±156.5^†	522.2±126.3^†	<0.001**
Center	431.6±92.0	515.1±109.8^†	488.6±99.0	0.006**
Middle right	447.1±92.5	568.8±159.1^†	518.8±97.0	0.001**
EMG movement time (ms)
Middle left	660.0±116.4	1032.6±284.7^††	886.5±183.5^†	<0.001**
Center	617.9±115.9	990.1±250.2^††	845.2±167.6^†	<0.001**
Middle right	585.6±103.0	942.2±206.9^††	801.9±159.1^†	<0.001**
End-point accuracy (mm)
Middle left	9.4±2.5	24.3±25.8^††	12.7±9.8	0.002**
Center	7.3±2.4	16.8±22.8^†	11.4±8.3	0.040**
Middle right	9.9±3.9	16.7±13.8^†	11.6±8.4	0.022**
Wrong movement (number)	0.2±0.5	3.3±6.0^††	1.0±1.5	0.003*

*denotes significant difference at 𝑃<0.01 using one-way ANOVA.
**denotes significant difference at 𝑃<0.05 using univariate tests, after multivariate ANOVA showing 𝑃<0.05.
^†denotes significant difference from young controls at 𝑃<0.05 by means of post hoc analysis using Bonferroni’s adjustment.
^††denotes significant difference from young controls and Tai Chi practitioners at 𝑃<0.05 by means of post hoc analysis using Bonferroni’s adjustment.