Movement time and aging: a normative study in healthy subjects with the "Movement Time Analyzer"

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most frequent neurodegenerative disorders characterized by bradykinesia, tremor at rest, and rigidity. Movement Time (MT) has been investigated in PD to evaluate bradykinesia and its levodopa-induced modifications. The Movement Time Analyzer (MTA) is a simple, objective and reliable instrument to study MT, but no normative study has been reported to date. In a sample of normal subjects (n = 68), we studied MT detected by MTA in order to assess normative values, so that the MTA could be used to evaluate patients with PD in daily clinical practice. In normal subjects, MT progressively increased with aging, and was slower on the non-dominant side than on the dominant side. No differences were found between men or women. Our data provide further information about normative values on MT detected by MTA, and indicate that age and handedness are the main variables influencing motor task performance.