An automated movement assessment panel for upper limb motor functions in rhesus monkeys and humans

As part of our studies of age-associated changes in motor functions, we hav e designed an automated movement assessment panel (MAP) to evaluate upper l imb and hand movements. Here we describe two versions of the MAP, one for h uman testing and one for nonhuman primates, and methods for conducting para llel tests in rhesus monkeys and human volunteers. The results are reported from a battery of tests on young adult rhesus monkeys (n = 10, 5-8 years o ld), young adult human subjects (n = 10, 18-22 years old) and ten aged huma n subjects (n = 10, 66-68 years old) to demonstrate the capability of the M AP in quantifying arm and hand movement times. The performance times on the two simplest tasks tested were consistent from trial to trial, demonstrati ng that a stable behavioral baseline could be established for evaluating ch anges in motor functions over time and assessing treatments for improving m otor functions. Motor learning was seen in the more complex movement tasks tested, indicating their usefulness in analyzing this behavior. Finally, ag e-associated changes in performance times were robustly delineated by the f our tasks evaluated in the human subjects. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.