Factors influencing changes in tweezer dexterity scores following yoga training.

Yoga has already been shown to improve perceptual-motor skills, but the factors which influence its effects are not well defined. This study correlates age, gender, and motivation to learn yoga with the performance in a dexterity task following yoga. Tweezer dexterity was recorded in eighty subjects belonging to four groups. Two groups were given a month of yoga training. One group consisted of subjects who had volunteered to join for the training and the other group were deputed for the training as part of their job. The two remaining groups did not receive yoga training and were selected to match the respective groups receiving yoga, for age and sex, but not for their motivation to learn yoga. The test involved using a tweezer to place metal pins in evenly spaced holes in a metal plate within four minutes. Following yoga the scores of the volunteers who learnt yoga increased significantly, whereas there was no change in scores of deputed subjects and non-yoga groups. For reasons described in detail, factors such as age and gender did not appear to contribute to the difference in performance. Hence motivation to learn yoga appeared to influence the magnitude of increase.