Effects Of Simulated Blur On Grooved Pegboard.

Purpose: The grooved pegboard tests ability of a subject to manipulate a small “key” in a particular orientation in a corresponding hole. The pegboard contains 25 randomly oriented “keyholes”, where the objective is to put in 25 “keys” as fast as possible. The test is reliant heavily on ocular-motor coordination and dexterity. The current study investigated the association between blur from simulated uncorrected refractive error and the ability to complete the grooved pegboard test. Specifically, we were interested in determining the magnitude of the refractive error at which performance becomes drastically reduced.
Methodology: Subjects (N = 50) were recruited from the MCO student body. Various degrees of myopia (nearsightedness) were induced through the use of convergent convex trial frame spectacle lenses allowing for standardization of refractive error. Subjects were asked to complete the grooved pegboard in four separate trials as follows- simulated emmetropia, once with simulated -0.50 D of myopia, once with simulated -1.00 D, once with simulated -1.50 D and then once with -2.00 D (this will be done by using +2.50, +3.00, +3.50, +4.00 D lenses over the subjects optimal correction respectively). The subjects performed the grooved pegboard with a set working distance of 40 cm in order to accurately simulate the correct amount of desired myopia. The lenses were inserted into a trial frame and worn by the subject in no particular order to control for potential learning effects of the subjects.
Analysis and Results: An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test was used to determine significance. Interpretation of the analysis revealed there was a significant increase in subject performance time with increasing blur. In other words, simulated blur impaired the task performance as evidenced by an increase in reaction time to complete the test. In addition, task performance was significantly better with the dominant hand in all subjects.