Movement-Specific Reinvestment in Older People Explains Past Falls and Predicts Future Error-Prone Movements

Abstract

The tendency to think about or consciously control automated movements (i.e., movement-specific reinvestment) is a crucial factor associated with falling in the elderly. We tested whether elderly people’s movement-specific reinvestment depended on their past falling history and whether it can predict future error-prone movements. In a longitudinal pre-post design, we assessed n = 21 elderly people’s (Mage = 84.38 years, SD = 5.68) falling history, movement-specific reinvestment (i.e., Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale), and physical functioning (i.e., Short-Physical-Performance Battery). Following a baseline assessment, participants reported their movement behavior in a daily diary for 2 months, after which we assessed their movement-specific reinvestment and physical functioning again (longitudinal, pre-post design). Results revealed, first, that participants’ movement self-consciousness score was fairly stable, while their conscious-motor-processing score was less stable. Second, conscious motor processing was higher in participants who had fallen as opposed to those who had not fallen in the past. Third, conscious motor processing predicted error-prone future movement behavior reported in the daily diary. For identifying individuals who are more prone to fall, caregivers, rehabilitation staff, or doctors could apply the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale to screen elderly people’s psychomotor behavior. Based on conscious motor processing, monitoring cognitions could be tailored in theory-based, individual interventions involving both cognitive and motor training.

Approaches to manage performance breakdowns due to reinvestment in sports tasks: A systematic review.

“…This will inform future research in sport, exercise, and performance psychology. In all areas of life, individuals suffer from reinvestment-related performance decrements, for example, athletes with and without yips or lost-movement syndrome (Bennett et al, 2016), older people with a falling history (Musculus et al, 2021), and surgeons (Malhotra et al, 2012). By identifying effective strategies counteracting performance decrements associated with reinvestment, performance failures and accidents with potentially severe consequences can be prevented.…”

“…We have only included the results of young, healthy participants up to the age of 60, as this could represent the common athlete population. Thus, the results discussed here cannot be generalized to other populations, such as older people with a history of illness, who have also frequently been studied in reinvestment research (Masters et al, 2007;Musculus et al, 2021;Wong et al, 2008). The review excluded grey literature, including congress articles and dissertations, and only considered literature in This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”