DISCRIMINATION OF GRIP FORCE FOR PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN AGED 5 TO 6 YEARS

The ability to discriminate grip force was investigated in 30 preschoo l children aged 5 to 6 years in an experiment controlling for motivati on and muscle fatigue. The subjects were required to maintain a relati vely high force during the discrimination with forces of the standard stimulus being 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 kgf. Comparison stimuli changed at an interval of 0.1 kgf. Discrimination was measured in terms of the lowe r threshold, upper threshold, and interval of uncertainty. Since the s tatistical analyses indicated that there were no significant gender di fferences, data for boys and girls were combined. Although the upper a nd lower thresholds and the interval of uncertainty increased with the force required by the standard stimuli, Weber fractions did not remai n constant when the stimulus intensity changed, unlike the findings in previous studies for adults.