Learning curve and motor retention of a video game in young and older adults

espanolEl proposito del estudio fue comparar la curva de aprendizaje y la retencion motriz del juego de video «Dance Dance Revolution» (DDR) en adultos sanos. Veinte adultos jovenes (M= 23.9 ± 2.8 anos) y 18 adultos mayores (M= 60.7 ± 5.9 anos), fueron asignados aleatoriamente a dos condiciones experimentales: a) bailar DDR 7 intentos, y b) bailar DDR 14 intentos. Los participantes bailaron la misma cancion seis sesiones, seguidas por un periodo de desentrenamiento de ocho dias. Luego los participantes regresaron al laboratorio y bailaron de nuevo para obtener el efecto de retencion motriz. La prueba de ANOVA de tres vias revelo interacciones en los puntajes promedio (sesiones x grupos x intentos; p = 0.017). Los analisis de seguimiento revelaron diferencias entre los participantes jovenes y mayores en ambas sesiones de intentos (p EnglishThe purpose of the study was to compare the learning curve and motor retention of the Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) video game in healthy adults. Twenty young (M= 23.9 ± 2.8 yr.) and 18 older adults (M= 60.7 ± 5.9 yr.), were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions: a) DDR 7 trials and b) DDR 14 trials. Participants danced the same song six sessions, followed by a detraining period of eight days. Then participants returned to the laboratory and danced again in order to detect a motor retention effect. A three-way ANOVA revealed mean score interactions (sessions x groups x trials; p = 0.017). Follow-up analyses revealed differences between young and older participants in both trial sessions (p however, those dancing the same song 14 times were more likely to reduce their scores after eight days of detraining. Younger participants scored high regardless of the number of trials and sessions with little variability