The Effects of Age and Gender on Finger Tapping Speed in Preschool Children

Memišević, Haris; Mahmutović, Indira; Pasalic, Arnela; Biščević, Inga

doi:10.5604/12321966.1237450

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This left us with a final sample of 116 children from these 8 kindergartens for whom we had the complete data. Some findings from this project regarding the effects of age and gender on finger tapping speed and semantic fluency have been published earlier (Memisevic et al, 2017a;Memisevic, Ibralic, & Pasalic, 2017b). The approval for this study was obtained from the Canton Sarajevo Ministry of Education and the Ethical Committee Board at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Sarajevo.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Exploring the link between a theory of mind and executive functions in preschool children

Memišević

Biščević

Pasalic

2018

Acta Neuropsychologica

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Acquisition of the theory of mind (TOM) is a very important milestone in the development of preschool children. TOM is especially important for the development of children’s social skills. The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of age, gender and executive functions (EF) on the acquisition of TOM. The sample in this study consisted of 116 preschool children aged 36-72 months (mean age 58.8 months, SD= 9.5 months). In relation to the child’s gender, there were 56 girls (48.3%) and 60 boys (51.7%). The Sally Anne test- a task purporting to measure TOM, was used as a dependant variable and age, gender, and EF measures were used as the predictors. Logistic regression was used as a method to determine the effects of predictors on TOM. The results of this study indicated that success on the TOM test can best be predicted by the inhibitory control, followed by verbal fluency and child’s age. The gender of the child was not associated with TOM acquisition. The overall model explained between 27% and 38% of the variance in the TOM scores. Inhibitory control is the executive function that had the greatest predictive power for the results on the theory of the mind task. The findings of this study can help early interventionists in the modification of existing preschool curricula, so that they include more activities that would foster the development of the theory of mind in preschool children. Future studies should aim to find a better model of theory of mind predictors by examining the effects of other executive function constructs, such as working memory.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Exploring the link between a theory of mind and executive functions in preschool children

Memišević

Biščević

Pasalic

2018

Acta Neuropsychologica

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The finger-tapping test for preschoolers did not significantly depend on the child’s gender. Exercise can help with speed and motor coordination [ 29 ]. One study included male and female pianists, and the authors found no significant effect of gender on finger-tapping speed [ 30 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age and Gender Differences in Anthropometric Characteristics and Motor Performance of 3 through 6 Young Kids Aged (Pilot Study)

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: It is crucial to evaluate children’s motor coordination and strength to identify possible motor deficits on the right or left side of the body. However, whether a distinction exists in children aged 3–6 must be clarified. The goal of the current research was to investigate the differences in motor skills between preschool boys and girls, dominant and non-dominant hands or legs, in children of preschool age. (2) Methods: The present study was conducted on a sample of children (boys, n = 52; girls, n = 52; age range, 3–6 years). Three motor tests evaluated on both sides of the body served as the sample of factors used to measure athletic performance. Leg tapping (15 s), hand tapping (15 s), and a maximal hand grip strength (HGS) test kg. (3) Results: The study’s findings show no statistically significant variations in preschool boys’ and girls’ motor skills. Preschool girls had better results in the right leg tapping than preschool boys t (98) = 2.08; p ≤ 0.04. We found a significant difference between genders aged 3–4, 4–5, and 5–6 years. No correlation was found between the girls’ three variables and age. A small but significant positive correlation was found between dominant hand tapping and age r2 (52) = 0.21; p ≤ 0.01, dominant leg tapping and age r2 (52) = 0.20; p ≤ 0.01 and dominant HGS and age r2 (52) = 0.17; p ≤ 0.01. No noticeable differences were identified when comparing the dominant side with the non-dominant side in each group. The results show that most children prefer to use their right hand and right leg as their dominant sides. (4) Conclusion: The authors of this study focus on the functional (frequency of movements) and dynamic (differences in muscle strength between body sides) elements of asymmetry. Future studies should examine the influence of morphology on performance with the dominant or non-dominant body side.

show abstract

“…Overall, examination of the effects of age and gender on other neuropsychological and psychological constructs is a frequent topic in research. For example, there are studies examining their influence on executive functions (Thorell, Lindqvist, Bergman Nutley, Bohlin, & Klingberg, 2009), finger tapping speed (Memisevic et al, 2017), peer relations (Gülay, 2011), inhibitory control (Macdonald, Beauchamp, Crigan, & Anderson, 2014), theory of mind. Current study added semantic fluency task to this list of topics that were explored in relation to the child's age and gender.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After the consent forms were returned, we tested the children on a number of tests including finger tapping speed, theory-of-mind Sally-Anne test, executive functions card sorting and semantic fluency tasks. We already reported about the performance of a smaller sample of children (111 children) on a test of finger tapping speed (Memisevic, Mahmutovic, Pasalic, & Biscevic, 2017). Children were tested by trained data collectors with advanced degrees in psychology, speech and language therapy and special education.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental trends in semantic fluency in preschool children

Memišević

Biščević

Pasalic³

2017

Cogent Psychology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Semantic fluency is a measure of verbal functioning and cognitive flexibility. Its development is particularly rapid in preschool years. The goal of this study was to examine semantic fluency in preschool children in relation to child's age and gender. The sample for this study comprised 133 children aged 3-6 years (mean age = 56.7 months; SD = 11.1 months) from Canton Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In relation to child's gender, there were 62 girls (46.6%) and 71 boys (53.8%). We used three different semantic fluency categories: animals, food and music instruments. The results of this study confirmed the effect of age on semantic fluency improvement. However, there were slightly different developmental trends for boys and girls in semantic fluency tasks. Girls achieved higher mean scores in all three semantic fluency tasks, but statistically significant differences were only for the category of music instruments. Given the rapid growth in semantic fluency in preschool children, it is very important to actively promote its development in early years.

show abstract

The Effects of Age and Gender on Finger Tapping Speed in Preschool Children

Cited by 9 publications

References 21 publications

Exploring the link between a theory of mind and executive functions in preschool children

Exploring the link between a theory of mind and executive functions in preschool children

Age and Gender Differences in Anthropometric Characteristics and Motor Performance of 3 through 6 Young Kids Aged (Pilot Study)

Developmental trends in semantic fluency in preschool children

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About