scholarly journals Motor plan differs for young and older adults during similar movements

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 1483-1488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agostina Casamento-Moran ◽  
Yen-Ting Chen ◽  
Neha Lodha ◽  
Basma Yacoubi ◽  
Evangelos A. Christou
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
End Points ◽  
Motor Plan ◽  
Antagonist Muscles ◽  
Agonist And Antagonist ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Antagonistic Muscles ◽  
Agonist And Antagonist Muscles

Older adults exhibit altered activation of the agonist and antagonist muscles during goal-directed movements compared with young adults. However, it remains unclear whether the differential activation of the antagonistic muscles in older adults results from an impaired motor plan or an altered ability of the muscle to contract. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine whether the motor plan differs for young and older adults. Ten young (26.1 ± 4.3 yr, 4 women) and 16 older adults (71.9 ± 6.9 yr, 9 women) participated in the study. Participants performed 100 trials of fast goal directed movements with ankle dorsiflexion while we recorded the electromyographic activity of the primary agonist (tibialis anterior; TA) and antagonist (soleus; SOL) muscles. From those 100 trials we selected 5 trials in each of 3 movement end-point categories (fast, accurate, and slow). We investigated age-associated differences in the motor plan by quantifying the individual activity and coordination of the agonist and antagonist muscles. During similar movement end points, older adults exhibited similar activation of the agonist (TA) and antagonist (SOL) muscles compared with young adults. In addition, the coordination of the agonist and antagonist muscles (TA and SOL) was different between the two age groups. Specifically, older adults exhibited lower TA-SOL overlap ( F1,23 = 41.2, P < 0.001) and greater TA-SOL peak EMG delay ( F1,25 = 35.5, P < 0.001). This finding suggests that although subjects in both age groups displayed similar movement end points, they exhibited a different motor plan, as demonstrated by altered coordination between the agonist and antagonist muscles. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We aimed to determine whether the altered activation of muscles in older adults compared with young adults during fast goal-directed movements is related to an altered motor plan. For matched movements, there were differences in the coordination of antagonistic muscles but no differences in the individual activation of muscles. We provide novel evidence that the differential activation of muscles in older adults is related to an altered motor plan.

scholarly journals Following Instructions in Working Memory: Do Older Adults Show the Enactment Advantage?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel O Coats ◽  
Amanda H Waterman ◽  
Fiona Ryder ◽  
Amy L Atkinson ◽  
Richard J Allen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Objectives In young adults, the ability to verbally recall instructions in working memory is enhanced if the sequences are physically enacted by the participant (self-enactment) or the experimenter (demonstration) during encoding. Here we examine the effects of self-enactment and demonstration at encoding on working memory performance in older and younger adults. Method Fifty young (18–23 years) and 40 older (60–89 years) adults listened to sequences of novel action-object pairs before verbally recalling them in the correct order. There were three different encoding conditions: spoken only, spoken + demonstration, and spoken + self-enactment. We included two different levels of difficulty to investigate whether task complexity moderated the effect of encoding condition and whether this differed between age groups. Results Relative to the spoken only condition, demonstration significantly improved young and older adults’ serial recall performance, but self-enactment only enhanced performance in the young adults, and this boost was smaller than the one gained through demonstration. Discussion Our findings suggest that additional spatial-motoric information is beneficial for older adults when the actions are demonstrated to them, but not when the individual must enact the instructions themselves.

scholarly journals Opioid Literacy in an Immigrant Group in Rural Area: Use of Social Determinant of Health Framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 397-397
Author(s):  
Hee Yun Lee ◽  
Eun Young Choi ◽  
Jieun Song ◽  
Jamie Gajos ◽  
Yan Luo
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Limited English Proficiency ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Opioid Overdose ◽  
Middle Aged

Abstract Opioid overdose risk is particularly high in immigrant communities partly due to limited English proficiency (Guarino et al., 2015). Previous studies reported that social determinants of health (SDH) have been associated with risk for opioid overdose (Dasgupta et al., 2018). The current study examines the association between SDH and literacy of opioid overdose risk among the immigrant population living in a rural area. Specifically, we examine the association in various age groups including young adults (aged 20 to 34), middle-aged (aged 35 to 49), and older adults (ages 50 to 75). Data were drawn from a sample of Korean American immigrants residing in rural Alabama (N=225). The participants administered the Brief Opioid Knowledge (BOOK) Questionnaire (Dunn et al., 2016). Multiple regression analyses were conducted for three age groups to identify predictors of opioid literacy. Overall, older adults had lower levels of opioid literacy relative to their younger counterparts. Among young adults, low English proficiency, more chronic conditions, and greater depressive symptoms were significant predictors of limited opioid literacy. For the middle-aged adults, lower levels of health literacy and more pain symptoms were associated with limited opioid literacy. Among older adults, women, those with higher English proficiency, and lower health literacy had lower levels of opioid literacy. The findings demonstrated a greater vulnerability of older immigrants to limited opioid literacy. Different predictors based on SDH of limited opioid literacy across age groups have implications for tailored health promotion strategies to reduce opioid overdose risk.

scholarly journals Are the Acute Effects of THC Different in Aging Adults?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 590
Author(s):  
Raeghan L. Mueller ◽  
Jarrod M. Ellingson ◽  
L. Cinnamon Bidwell ◽  
Angela D. Bryan ◽  
Kent E. Hutchison
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Young Group ◽  
Self Administration ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Aging Adults

In recent years of expanding legalization, older adults have reported the largest increase in cannabis use of any age group. While its use has been studied extensively in young adults, little is known about the effects of THC in older adults and whether the risks of cannabis might be different, particularly concerning intoxication and cognition. The current study investigated whether age is associated with the deleterious effects of THC on cognitive performance and other behavioral measures before and after ad libitum self-administration of three different types of cannabis flower (THC dominant, THC + CBD, and CBD dominant). Age groups consisted of young adults (ages 21–25) and older adults (ages 55–70). Controlling for pre-use scores on all measures, the THC dominant chemovar produced a greater deleterious effect in younger adults compared with older adults in tests of learning and processing speed, whereas there were no differences between old and young in the effects of the other chemovars. In addition, the young group reported greater cannabis craving than the older group after using the THC chemovar. Consistent with some reports in the preclinical literature, the findings suggest that older adults may be less sensitive to the effects of THC on cognitive and affective measures.

Neck Muscle Responses to Stimulation of Monkey Superior Colliculus. II. Gaze Shift Initiation and Volitional Head Movements

2002 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 2000-2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D. Corneil ◽  
Etienne Olivier ◽  
Douglas P. Munoz
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Neck Muscles ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Emg Activity ◽  
Neck Muscle ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
Antagonist Muscles ◽  
Agonist And Antagonist ◽  
Agonist And Antagonist Muscles ◽  
Stimulation Of

We report neck muscle activity and head movements evoked by electrical stimulation of the superior colliculus (SC) in head-unrestrained monkeys. Recording neck electromyography (EMG) circumvents complications arising from the head's inertia and the kinetics of muscle force generation and allows precise assessment of the neuromuscular drive to the head plant. This study served two main purposes. First, we sought to test the predictions made in the companion paper of a parallel drive from the SC onto neck muscles. Low-current, long-duration stimulation evoked both neck EMG responses and head movements either without or prior to gaze shifts, testifying to a SC drive to neck muscles that is independent of gaze-shift initiation. However, gaze-shift initiation was linked to a transient additional EMG response and head acceleration, confirming the presence of a SC drive to neck muscles that is dependent on gaze-shift initiation. We forward a conceptual neural architecture and suggest that this parallel drive provides the oculomotor system with the flexibility to orient the eyes and head independently or together, depending on the behavioral context. Second, we compared the EMG responses evoked by SC stimulation to those that accompanied volitional head movements. We found characteristic features in the underlying pattern of evoked neck EMG that were not observed during volitional head movements in spite of the seemingly natural kinematics of evoked head movements. These features included reciprocal patterning of EMG activity on the agonist and antagonist muscles during stimulation, a poststimulation increase in the activity of antagonist muscles, and synchronously evoked responses on agonist and antagonist muscles regardless of initial horizontal head position. These results demonstrate that the electrically evoked SC drive to the head cannot be considered as a neural replicate of the SC drive during volitional head movements and place important new constraints on the interpretation of electrically evoked head movements.

scholarly journals Slowed sensory reweighting and postural illusions in older adults: the moving platform illusion

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
pp. 690-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chesney E. Craig ◽  
Michail Doumas
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Sensory Reweighting ◽  
Perceptual Illusion ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
Illusory Perception

We investigated whether postural aftereffects witnessed during transitions from a moving to a stable support are accompanied by a delayed perception of platform stabilization in older adults, in two experiments. In experiment 1, postural sway and muscle cocontraction were assessed in 11 healthy young, 11 healthy older, and 11 fall-prone older adults during blindfolded stance on a fixed platform, followed by a sway-referenced platform and then by a fixed platform again. The sway-referenced platform was more compliant for young adults, to induce similar levels of postural sway in both age groups. Participants were asked to press a button whenever they perceived that the platform had stopped moving. Both older groups showed significantly larger and longer postural sway aftereffects during platform stabilization compared with young adults, which were pronounced in fall-prone older adults. In both older groups elevated muscle cocontraction aftereffect was also witnessed. Importantly, these aftereffects were accompanied by an illusory perception of prolonged platform movement. After this, experiment 2 examined whether this illusory perception was a robust age effect or an experimental confound due to greater surface compliance in young adults, which could create a larger perceptual discrepancy between moving and stable conditions. Despite exposure to the same surface compliance levels during sway-reference, the perceptual illusion was maintained in experiment 2 in a new group of 14 healthy older adults compared with 11 young adults. In both studies, older adults took five times longer than young adults to perceive platform stabilization. This supports that sensory reweighting is inefficient in older adults. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first paper to show that postural sway aftereffects witnessed in older adults after platform stabilization may be due to a perceptual illusion of platform movement. Surprisingly, in both experiments presented it took older adults five times longer than young adults to perceive platform stabilization. This supports a hypothesis of less efficient sensory reintegration in this age group, which may delay the formation of an accurate postural percept.

scholarly journals Negative Effects of Embodiment in a Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Task in Children, Young Adults, and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Amico ◽  
Sabine Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Negative Effects

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.

The effects of age on prototype- and exemplar-based categorization

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Bowman ◽  
Takako Iwashita ◽  
Dagmar Zeithamova
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Concept Learning ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Central Tendency ◽  
Concepts And Categories ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Category Labels

The need to learn new concepts and categories persists through the lifespan, yet little is known about how aging affects concept learning and generalization. Here, we trained young and older adults to classify typical and boundary category members and then tested category generalization to new stimuli. During training, older adults had increased difficulty compared to young adults learning category labels for boundary items, but not typical items. At test, categorization performance that included new items at all levels of typicality was comparable across age groups, but formal categorization models indicated that older adults relied to a greater degree on generalized (prototype) category representations than young adults. These findings align with the proposal that older adults are able to form category representations based on central tendency even when they have difficulty learning and remembering individual category members. More broadly, the results contribute to our understanding of multiple categorization strategies and the limited strategy flexibility in older adults. They also highlight how reliance on

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