The Effect of the Thermal Conditions of Training and Testing on the Performance of Motor Tasks Measuring Primary Manual Abilities.

摘要

It has been well documented that manual performance deteriorates in the cold. However, motor tasks require many independent abilities from fine, precise finger dexterity to gross arm-hand speed, and it is likely that each of these abilities is affected differentially by the cold. To predict accurately the effects of cold on specific practical tasks, without direct test, the decrement to component skills must be known. Two groups of U.S. Marines practiced a battery of nine motor tasks in a climatic chamber during a five-day cold exposure in which the Marines lived in the chamber 24 hours a day. Subjects practiced the tasks, each of which was known to load highly on a different psychomotor factor or manual ability, once a day for the first four days and were tested on the fifth day. One group trained at 10 deg to 15 deg F, and the other group trained at 40 deg to 50 deg F. Both groups were then tested at both temperatures on the fifth day to test the hypothesis that subjects practiced in the cold should perform better on subsequent tests in the cold relative to subjects practiced in the warmer temperatures, and those practiced in the warmer temperatures should perform better on subsequent tests in the warmer temperatures, and those practiced in the warmer temperatures relative to subjects practiced in the cold. The hypothesis was not confirmed by the data, and methodological and theoretical problems in interpretation of that finding are discussed. (Author)