Abstract
An account is presented of an investigation into the effect upon skill in an acquisition tracking task of exercising particular limb-segments. To carry out the task the operator used his thumb to operate a small joystick. Two sorts of exercise were employed: one used the muscles of the whole hand, the other principally those of the thumb. It was found that the latter produced a marked, though transient, decrement in performance, whereas the former did not. It appears that, for tasks of this typo and order of difficulty, serious decrement in performance is only to be expected when highly specific muscle groups are exercised. Normal work-loads and activities should not, therefore, constitute a hazard.

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