The influence of a real job on upper limb performance in motor skill tests: which abilities are transferred?

Abstract

To investigate whether the specificities of real jobs create distinctions in the performance of workers in different motor tests for the upper limbs, 24 participants were divided into two groups according to their specific job: fine and repetitive tasks and general tasks. Both groups reproduced tasks related to aiming movements, handling and strength of the upper limbs. There were no significant differences between groups in the dexterity and performance of aiming movements. However, the general tasks group had higher grip strength than the repetitive tasks group, demonstrating differences according to job specificity. The results suggest that a particular motor skill in a specific job cannot improve performance in other tasks with the same motor requirements. The transfer of the fine and gross motor skills from previous experience in a job-specific task is the basis for allocating training and guidance to workers.

Keywords:

• motor learning
• skill acquisition
• health and safety
• injury risks

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) [Grant Proc. no. 557752/2009-4].