Research Proposal - Anyone up for this? haha
Opening Statement
Competitive games help people interact with others and themselves, internally and externally. In a game of teamwork, there comes a sense of self satisfaction and positive social reinforcement. It is intense and it requires great focus, but at the same time, brings fun and friendship. It is indeed a multifaceted and unique way of improving the quality of life.
Argument
Coordination is an important tool that our cerebellum allows us to use to our advantage. It is often one of the many gifts that we have that go unnoticed until old age dulls our abilities. As noted from W. R. Miles’ study, “Correlation of reaction and coordination speed with age in adults”, coordination does decline with age, though results were not solid. The oldest twelve percent in the study averaged 20 to 30 percent slower than general average of the group (100 participants), though three participants of the twelve percent (aforementioned) scored as quick or quicker than the entire group average. According to Robert J. Rotella and Linda K. Bunker findings in research piece entitled “Field dependence and reaction time in senior tennis players (65 and over)”, the tennis player participants had significantly greater field independence and better rapid simple reaction time and total-body response time than the participants who did not partake in tennis playing. In another study by José F. Marmeleira, Mário B. Godinho, and Orlando M. Fernandes in “The effects of an exercise program on several abilities associated with driving performance in older adults”, results also show that exercise promoted response time and coordination. All of these articles point to exercise as a positive reinforcement to coordination.
Hypothesis
The objective of this study is to see whether playing foosball on a regular basis in nursing homes with fellow residents is significantly beneficial to a resident’s hand-eye coordination reaction time, social health, and whether it promotes a generally positive feeling towards one’s outlook on life.
Method - Sample
We will recruit a total of 200 participants from several local nursing homes, 113 men and 87 women, ranging in age from 69 to 79 years. The requirement for all participants is to have been in America from 1965-1975. This is approximately when foosball flourished and was at its highest point of popularity in America after its arrival from Europe. The younger participants will have been in their mid 20’s to their mid 30’s and the other end of the bell curve will have been in their mid 30’s to their mid 40’s. There is a great probability that people in this age range that were in America between 1965-1975 were exposed at least somewhat to foosball, although no prior experience or knowledge of the game is necessary for this experiment. We will pay the participants $190 ($10/week of foosball, $5/test taking day) for completing the entire experiment protocol.
Method - Task Description
Essentially, the task entails that the participants will play foosball for sixty minutes a day, five days a week, over the course of four months. The activity will take place in a “gameroom”.
Method – Procedure
To assess changes in reaction speed concerning hand-eye coordination, our research team will use a cluster of simple tests administered by a computer. One such test that will be used is similar to IVA+Plus, though more suited towards older adults. Other reaction tests include dot color change, where the participant clicks anywhere on screen when a small red dot turns yellow, background color change, where the participant clicks on screen when a designated background color changes to a different background color, and movement reaction test, where the participant clicks on a designated area of the screen when a object flies from left to right on the screen. Such tests and others of the like will be used to determine whether there has been an increase of whether there has been a decline in reaction speed. All of these tests will be tailored to suit the average results of the test of the participants pre-initiation. The subjects will take these tests twice before their first task day (first for average/tutorial, second for record of preliminary results). They will then take the tests over each month for a total of 6 times throughout the experiment.
Anticipated Results
I expect that there will be a significant increase in reaction speed concerning hand-eye coordination. I also expect that there will be a spike in social health brought on by the activity, complemented with a general sense of well-being.
By Ellen Moon for Psych Adult Development, Baruch College
