Relationship between tympanic temperature variability and motor control in finger dexterity tasks

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between fine motor skills, fingertip pressure, and variability in tympanic temperature across multiple motor tasks. Eleven healthy adults performed three finger dexterity tasks—chopstick operation task, mirror tracing task, and a Fitts’ law-based pointing task—across three sets. Behavioral performance, fingertip pressure, and tympanic temperature were simultaneously recorded. In the chopstick operation and mirror drawing tasks, significant improvements in performance were observed, indicating motor learning effects. In the pointing task, a significant decrease in thumb pressure contribution was observed, suggesting a modification in motor strategy. Additionally, the standard deviation of tympanic temperature was associated with motor control measures derived from task performance. A strong negative correlation was observed between changes in temperature variability and changes in the slope parameter across task sets, indicating that a reduction in temperature variability over repeated sets was associated with an increased sensitivity of movement time to task difficulty, whereas increased variability was associated with reduced sensitivity. These findings suggest that variability in deep body temperature reflects underlying neural stability and contributes to fine motor control. Tympanic temperature variability may serve as a novel indicator of motor control stability in finger dexterity tasks.