Mahjong playing and eye-hand coordination in older adults-a cross-sectional study.
William W N Tsang, Gloria C K Wong, Kelly L Gao
PMID 27821969WHAT IT FOUND
Older mahjong players mostly matched non-players on stationary pointing with the dominant hand.
They had better non-dominant accuracy and faster, more accurate pointing to moving targets. This cross-sectional study cannot show mahjong caused the differences.
Key findings
01For pointing at a stationary target, dominant-hand reaction time, movement time, and end-point accuracy did not differ significantly between groups.
02For pointing at a stationary target with the non-dominant hand, mahjong players had lower end-point error, 8.9 ± 2.8 mm, than non-players, 12.8 ± 7.5 mm, and this difference was significant.
03For pointing at a moving target, mahjong players had faster dominant-hand movement time and better non-dominant reaction time and end-point accuracy.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This was a cross-sectional study, so it can show differences between groups but cannot show that mahjong caused them. The sample was small and recruited by convenience sampling. All participants were right-handed, so results may not apply to left-handed people. The stationary pointing task may have been too simple to reveal dominant-hand differences. The laboratory pointing task may not capture the complex eye-hand coordination used in daily activities.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that mahjong improves eye-hand coordination. This was a cross-sectional comparison of existing players and non-players, not a randomised trial, so it cannot show that playing caused the differences.