Effects of Gender and Limb Movement Direction on Timing Performance

Purpose

In the present study, an attempt was made to investigate the effects of object speed, direction of limb movement, and gender on the performance of a coincident timing skill.

Methods

Participants of the study were 50 male (n=34) and female (n=16) students enrolled in a college in the northeast region of the United States. A consent form was obtained from each participant prior to the beginning of the study. The testing instrument of this study included a Basin anticipation apparatus and the task required the participant to sit 12 feet away from a track of lights, visually follow the light traveling along the track, move his/her arm horizontally from a designated location toward the center of the body, and then push the button to coincide with the arrival of the last light. Two practice trials were provided to the participant to familiarize him/her with the task. Each participant was asked to perform 25 trials of the anticipation task at the speed of 2 miles/per hour and 10 miles/per hour with the arm moving from the side toward the center of the body in both the same and opposite direction of the traveling light, respectively (i.e., a total of 100 trials). A 10-second break was provided to the participant after completion of each block of 25 trials. The anticipation time was recorded to the nearest ms with the direction of early, late, or perfect response reported to the participant.

Analysis/Results

A 2 x 2 x 2 (Speed x Direction x Gender) Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to examine differences between male and femal participants in coincident timing performance at two different speeds with two different limb movement directions. The results of the statistical analyses indicated a significant (p=.0001) gender effect and a significant (p=.011) Gender x Direction interaction effect. Follow-up analysis revealed that male participants had higher performance accuracy than female counterparts. The Gender x Direction interaction was attributed to the fact that male participants had higher performance accuracy with the arm moving in the same direction than in the opposite direction of the traveling light. However, the reverse was true for female participants.

Conclusions

Coincident timing performance may be a function of gender and direction of limb movement. Male participants in the present study demonstrated not only better coincident timing accuracy but also different timing performance pattern associated with limb movement direction in comparison to their female counterparts.