The Sensory-Motor Coordination Measuring System Using Pointing Movements for the Evaluation of the Activities of Daily Living (ADL)

Abstract

In this paper, we aim to construct a system that measures older people's sensory, motor and cognitive functions related to spatial localization. We constructed an experimental system that could measure hand pointing movements to a light spot that was displayed for 200ms. Experiment data show that older people frequently lose sight of a target presented at 80 degrees. This result suggests that the risk of traffic accident increases because of an oversight when older people go across a road. The experimental data show that significant differences between the older and young groups appeared in the localization angle. The average angle that older subjects pointed at was greater than the average angle of younger subjects. In order to analyze individual differences among the older subjects, we defined an evaluation scale, ‘IEO, ’ from each subject's localization angle. The ‘TEO’ score and ADL (Activities of Daily Living) questionnaire score were highly correlated (0.95).