Noreen L. Goggin

Movement specification time with age.

An experiment is reported which localizes and compares movement specification times between three age groups, young (18-25 yrs.), middle (40-50 yrs.), and elderly (65-75 yrs.), in order to assess whether movement planning processes are partially responsible for the commonly observed slowing of response initiation time in the elderly. A movement precuing paradigm was used in which 24 subjects (8/age group) received either no, partial, or complete movement task information prior to the imperative response signal. The results established that the elderly had slower reaction times, movement times, information transmission rates and more errors. While the results indicated that the elderly could use precue information to prepare an upcoming movement, their specification times for arm, direction, and extent were markedly slower. The data are interpreted as providing evidence that part of the slowing in reaction time observed in the elderly is due to the increased time required to specify a dimension of movement.

Age differences in the maintenance and restructuring of movement preparation.

In 2 experiments, elderly and young subjects performed simple reaction time, choice reaction time, and movement plan restructuring tasks, using a stimulus precuing paradigm. In Experiment 1, the precue display (200 ms) and preparation interval (250, 500, 750, or 1,000 ms) were experimentally determined. In Experiment 2, the precue display interval was subject determined. For the restructuring task, the precue specified the response on 75% of the trials, enabling movement plan preparation with respect to movement parameters of arm and direction. On remaining trials, the precue incorrectly specified the response, requiring movement plan restructuring. Elderly, but not young, subjects restructured a movement plan for direction more quickly than for arm or for both parameters. These findings indicate that elderly individuals have poorer movement plan maintenance for direction than for arm and thus exhibit functional change in movement preparation processes relative to young individuals.

Aging and the restructuring of precued movements.

A precue paradigm was used to examine the time it takes to restructure a planned motor response. Two groups of subjects, a young group and an elderly group, performed an aiming task in which 75% of the trials involved no change of movement parameters. On remaining trials, subjects had to change one or more of the movement parameters. Elderly subjects had slower reaction times (RTs), movement times, and made more errors in both conditions. Elderly subjects had proportionally longer RTs overall, independent of restructuring a movement plan. Preparation of arm and direction also exhibited a proportional increase in RT. However, differential aging effects were found for preparation of extent. Elderly subjects were slower preparing short movements compared with long movements, whereas young subjects showed the opposite trend. These results suggest that with advancing age, operations concerned with movement-plan restructuring for arm and direction undergo change in processing rate, whereas operations for extent undergo more extensive alteration.

Effects of age on motor preparation and restructuring

Age-related decrements in motor plan restructuring were investigated. In this experiment older and younger adults performed a discrete aiming task that involved responses that were precued and responses that were modified at the time of an imperative signal. On 75% of the trials, the precue specified the response stimulus (valid trials) with respect to the movement parameters of arm (left or right) and direction (toward or away). On the remaining 25% of the trials, the response stimulus was different from the precue (invalid trials) in that the subject was required to modify a planned movement by changing the arm to be used and/or the direction of movement. The older subjects were slower than the younger in both the valid and invalid trials. Across preparatory intervals (PI) of 500, 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000 msec, older, but not younger subjects exhibited less reaction time cost for restructuring the motor plan for the direction-change condition than for the other parameter change conditions. Since there was little apparent cost of restructuring, these findings suggest that older adults did not prepare the direction of movement, and thus found it temporally more efficient to alter direction than arm or arm and direction combined.

A Comparison of Grip Strength and Selected Psychomotor Performance Measures in Healthy and Frail Elderly Females

Researchers have examined the relationships between strength and psychomotor skills among healthy male subjects far more thoroughly than among female subjects, especially elderly females. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare healthy and frail elderly females on grip strength and psychomotor performance measures. Nineteen healthy elderly females (M = 75.7 years of age) and 20 frail elderly females (M = 80.5 years of age) performed simple aiming movements in order for the investigators to obtain psychomotor measures (e.g., reaction time, movement time, kinematic movement characteristics). In addition, strength measures were obtained in the dominant and nondominant hands. Significant differences were found between elderly females on grip strength and psychomotor performance measures. In general, healthy subjects were stronger and exhibited superior control of movements (e.g., greater impulse, fewer movement adjustments).

5 Age-Related Deficits in Cognitive-Motor Skills

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the age-related deficits in cognitive-motor skills. It considers the psychomotor changes that occur with advancing age and will specifically focus on age-related declines in the preparation and execution of motor skills. It has been well-documented that older adults tend to become slower in their performance of motor skills. The major measures utilized to document these findings have been reaction time (RT) and movement time (MT). This chapter presents data that document the cognitive-motor deficits found in RT and MT measures in older adults. These data demonstrate planning deficits in both the preparation and the maintenance of preparation of movements, difficulty in programming or reprogramming a response, and control problems in the execution of movements as revealed by kinematic and kinetic analyses. This chapter also presents hypotheses and theories which account for the slowing that occurs with advanced age. These hypotheses and theories suggest that older adults set different criteria for responding and/or adopt different strategies than young adults in order to successfully perform a movement.

OLDER DRIVERS: A CLOSER LOOK

This paper examines the cognitive and motor skills exhibited in the driving performance of older adults. Participants were 11 men and 13 women aged 65-83 (mean age 73) recruited from the community with a valid drivers license, no visual or neurological problems, and good self-reported health. Each completed a demographic questionnaire; a psychophysical test measuring reaction time, movement time, peripheral vision, depth perception, and visual acuity; and a written test that ascertained cognitive decision making related to 15 videotaped driving scenarios. Responses to the 15 scenarios were also assessed using a computerized driving simulator unit. Descriptive statistics, stepwise regression analyses, and t-tests were used to evaluate the data. Results show that men performed much better than women on the driving simulator test, drove more miles/year, and did more of their driving on the highway. All participants performed better during driving simulation than on the cognitive test. Results suggest that older drivers may have more difficulty executing cognitive decision making skills than performing related motor skills.

OPRTRAYALS OF OLDER ADULTS IN MODERN MATURITY ADVERTISEMENTS

Portrayals of older adults in advertisements in Modern Maturity were analyzed to identify any pattern of stereotyping based on age and gender. Content analysis was conducted of full‐page advertisements depicting people in issues from December 1987 to November 1991. Of the 342 people depicted in 174 advertisements selected for analysis, 145 (42%) appeared to be older adults. Only 4% of the people in the advertisements were minorities. Significantly more older adults in the advertisements were male than female.