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Keçelioğlu Ş., Narin Aral S.
Medical Problems of Performing Artists, vol.38, no.1, pp.22-29, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Dexterity is one of the abilities required for different types of work and is divided into manual and finger dexterity. The aim of this study was to examine whether there was a difference in manual and finger dexterity between musicians and nonmusicians, and between musicians divided by instrument groups and nonmusicians. METHODS: The study included 128 participants (96 musicians, 32 nonmusicians). Musicians were divided into three groups as wind, string, and keyboard
instrument players. The Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test (MMDT) for manual dexterity and Purdue Pegboard Test (PPT) for finger dexterity were used. Independent samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for MMDT, and the Mann Whitney U test was used for PPT between musicians and nonmusicians. The Kruskal-Wallis H test and one-way ANOVA were used for comparisons of the MMDT and PPT between nonmusicians and musicians divided by instrument groups. RESULTS:
There were no differences between musicians and non- musicians in terms of MMDT and PPT (p>0.05). When musicians were divided by instrument groups, there was a statistically significant difference in only the left-hand subtest of PPT (p=0.038). In pairwise comparisons, these significant differences were found between wind and string instrument players (p=0.036), keyboard and string players (p=0.012), and nonmusicians and string players (p=0.015). Wind, keyboard players, and nonmusicians were more successful than string instrument players.
CONCLUSION: Future studies can be designed that investigate the effects of bilateral asymmetrical-symmetrical training on finger dexterity of the left hand and evaluate the performances of musicians in areas other than music.