Authors: Harsimran S Baweja MinHyuk Kwon Tanya Onushko David L Wright Daniel M Corcos Evangelos A Christou
Publish Date: 2015/08/23
Volume: 233, Issue: 12, Pages: 3475-3488
Abstract
We performed two experiments to determine whether amplified motor output variability and compromised processing of visual information in older adults impair shortterm adaptations when learning novel fine motor tasks In Experiment 1 12 young and 12 older adults underwent training to learn how to accurately trace a sinusoidal position target with abduction–adduction of their index finger They performed 48 trials which included 8 blocks of 6 trials the last trial of each block was performed without visual feedback Afterward subjects received an interference task watched a movie for 60 min We tested retention by asking subjects to perform the sinusoidal task 5 trials with and without visual feedback In Experiment 2 12 young and 10 older adults traced the same sinusoidal position target with their index finger and ankle at three distinct visual angles 025° 1° and 54° In Experiment 1 the movement error and variability were greater for older adults during the visual feedback trials when compared with young adults In contrast during the novision trials ageassociated differences in movement error and variability were ameliorated Shortterm adaptations in learning the sinusoidal task were similar for young and older adults In Experiment 2 lower amount of visual feedback minimized the ageassociated differences in movement variability for both the index finger and ankle movements We demonstrate that although shortterm adaptations are similar for young and older adults older adults do not process visual information as well as young adults and that compromises their ability to control novel fine motor tasks during acquisition which could influence longterm retention and transfer
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