Visuo-proprioceptive control of the hand in older adults

AbstractTo control hand movement, we have both vision and proprioception, or position sense. The brain is known to integrate these to reduce variance. Here we ask whether older adults integrate vision and proprioception in a way that minimizes variance as young adults do, and whether older subjects compensate for an imposed visuo-proprioceptive mismatch as young adults do. Ten healthy older adults (mean age 69) and 10 healthy younger adults (mean age 19) participated. Subjects were asked to estimate the position of visual, proprioceptive, and combined targets, with no direct vision of either hand. After a veridical baseline block, a spatial visuo-proprioceptive misalignment was gradually imposed by shifting the visual component forward from the proprioceptive component without the subject’s awareness. Older subjects were more variable than young subjects at estimating both visual and proprioceptive target positions (F1,18 = 6.14, p = 0.023). Older subjects tended to rely more heavily on vision than proprioception compared to younger subjects. However, the weighting of vision vs. proprioception was correlated with minimum variance predictions for both older (r = 0.71, p = 0.021) and younger (r = 0.81, p = 0.0047) adults, suggesting that variance-minimizing mechanisms are present to some degree in older adults. Visual and proprioceptive realignment were similar for young and older subjects in the misalignment block, suggesting older subjects are able to realign as much as young subjects. These results suggest that intact multisensory processing in older adults should be explored as a potential means of mitigating degradation in individual sensory systems.

Visuo-Proprioceptive Control of the Hand in Older Adults

Multisensory Research ◽

10.1163/22134808-bja10032 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 93-111

Author(s):

Hannah J. Block ◽

Brandon M. Sexton

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Multisensory Processing ◽

Hand Movement ◽

Minimum Variance ◽

Position Sense ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Visual Component ◽

Older Subjects ◽

Abstract To control hand movement, we have both vision and proprioception, or position sense. The brain is known to integrate these to reduce variance. Here we ask whether older adults integrate vision and proprioception in a way that minimizes variance as young adults do, and whether older subjects compensate for an imposed visuo-proprioceptive mismatch as young adults do. Ten healthy older adults (mean age 69) and 10 healthy younger adults (mean age 19) participated. Subjects were asked to estimate the position of visual, proprioceptive, and combined targets, with no direct vision of either hand. After a veridical baseline block, a spatial visuo-proprioceptive misalignment was gradually imposed by shifting the visual component forward from the proprioceptive component without the subject’s awareness. Older subjects were more variable than young subjects at estimating both visual and proprioceptive target positions. Older subjects tended to rely more heavily on vision than proprioception compared to younger subjects. However, the weighting of vision vs. proprioception was correlated with minimum variance predictions for both older and younger adults, suggesting that variance-minimizing mechanisms are present to some degree in older adults. Visual and proprioceptive realignment were similar for young and older subjects in the misalignment block, suggesting older subjects are able to realign as much as young subjects. These results suggest that intact multisensory processing in older adults should be explored as a potential means of mitigating degradation in individual sensory systems.

Age-Related Effects in Consistent Memory Search: Performance is the Same but What about Learning?

Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193129203600202 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

pp. 146-150

Author(s):

Brian P. Cooper ◽

Mark D. Lee ◽

Robert E. Goska ◽

Marjo M. Anderson ◽

Paul E. Gay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Performance Improvement ◽

Memory Search ◽

Search Performance ◽

Learning Mechanisms ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Age Related ◽

Older Subjects ◽

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the mechanisms which underlie the learning in consistently mapped (CM) memory search. In Experiment 1, old and young adults were trained in both CM and variably mapped (VM) category search. The training results replicate previous findings by Fisk and Rogers (1991). Even though older adults are initially at a disadvantage relative to young adults, the comparison times of young and old adults are near zero after CM training. For VM, older adults remain at a disadvantage relative to younger adults, even after extensive training. A full reversal manipulation was implemented in Experiment 2 to investigate the learning in memory search. Initially, the young subjects were less affected by the full reversal condition compared to the performance of the older adults. However, older subjects quickly recovered and both young and old were performing at trained CM levels within 60 trials of additional practice. These results suggest: (a) attention is not being trained in CM memory search; (b) automatic category activation does not contribute much, if at all, to the performance improvement in memory search; and (c) age-invariant learning mechanisms account for performance improvement in CM memory search.

Processing gender stereotypes in dementia patients and older healthy adults: a self-paced reading study

Linguistics Vanguard ◽

10.1515/lingvan-2018-0029 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (s2) ◽

Author(s):

Daniel Müller-Feldmeth ◽

Katharina Ahnefeld ◽

Adriana Hanulíková

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Sentence Processing ◽

Gender Stereotypes ◽

Time Course ◽

Healthy Adults ◽

Control Group ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Dementia Patients ◽

Age Related

AbstractWe used self-paced reading to examine whether stereotypical associations of verbs with women or men as prototypical agents (e.g. the craftsman knits a sweater) are activated during sentence processing in dementia patients and healthy older adults. Effects of stereotypical knowledge on language processing have frequently been observed in young adults, but little is known about age-related changes in the activation and integration of stereotypical information. While syntactic processing may remain intact, semantic capacities are often affected in dementia. Since inferences based on gender stereotypes draw on social and world knowledge, access to stereotype information may also be affected in dementia patients. Results from dementia patients (n = 9, average age 86.6) and healthy older adults (n = 14, average age 79.5) showed slower reading times and less accuracy in comprehension scores for dementia patients compared to the control group. While activation of stereotypical associations of verbs was visible in both groups, they differed with respect to the time-course of processing. The effect of stereotypes on comprehension accuracy was visible for healthy adults only. The evidence from reading times suggests that older adults with and without dementia engage stereotypical inferences during reading, which is in line with research on young adults.

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

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00389.2018 ◽

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.

Memory Skill Acquisition for Young and Old Adults: Does Training Order Affect Learning?

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193129403800206 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 155-159 ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer L. Clark ◽

Wendy A. Rogers

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Skill Acquisition ◽

Search Task ◽

Memory Search ◽

Old Adults ◽

Older Subjects ◽

Memory Skill ◽

Order Of Training ◽

Strategy I

The purpose of the present experiment was to identify the effects of altering the order of training for a memory search task in old and young adults. We provided subjects with extensive practice on consistently mapped (CM) and variably mapped (VM) versions of a memory search task. Half of the subjects in each age group received CM training followed by VM training and the other half received VM first followed by CM. Based on previous findings (Fisk, Rogers, and Giambra, 1990), in which older adults did not switch to a more efficient search strategy (i. e., from serial exhaustive to serial self-terminating) we predicted that older subjects who received VM training first would not adopt the most efficient strategy on subsequent CM training compared to old adults who received the CM training first. The results supported our prediction: namely, the comparison slopes were shallower (i. e., more efficient) for the older adults who received CM training first, relative to those who received VM training prior to the CM training. Order of practice did not significantly affect the performance of the young adults. These data have important implications for the development of training programs in which subjects will be required to learn several task components.

Can People with Parkinson’s Disease Self-Trigger Gait Initiation? A Comparison of Cueing Strategies

Journal of Parkinson s Disease ◽

10.3233/jpd-212732 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Matthew N. Petrucci ◽

Sommer Amundsen Huffmaster ◽

Jae Woo Chung ◽

Elizabeth T. Hsiao-Wecksler ◽

Colum D. MacKinnon

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Young Adults ◽

Older Adult ◽

Freezing Of Gait ◽

External Source ◽

Anticipatory Postural Adjustments ◽

Gait Initiation ◽

Healthy Older Adults

Background: An external cue can markedly improve gait initiation in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and is often used to overcome freezing of gait (FOG). It is unknown if the effects of external cueing are comparable if the imperative stimulus is triggered by the person receiving the cue (self-triggered) or an external source. Objective: Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of self- versus externally triggered cueing on anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) during gait initiation in people with PD. Methods: In experiment 1, 10 individuals with PD and FOG initiated gait without a cue or in response to a stimulus triggered by the experimenter or by the participant. Experiment 2 compared self- versus externally triggered cueing across three groups: healthy young adults (n = 16), healthy older adults (n = 11), and a group with PD (n = 10). Results: Experiment 1: Externally triggered cues significantly increased APA magnitudes compared to uncued stepping, but not when the same cue was self-triggered. Experiment 2: APAs were not significantly improved with a self-triggered cue compared to un-cued stepping in both the PD and healthy older adult groups, but the young adults showed a significant facilitation of APA magnitude. Conclusion: The effectiveness of an external cue on gait initiation in people with PD and older adults is critically dependent upon whether the source of the trigger is endogenous (self-produced) or exogenous (externally generated). These results may explain why cueing interventions that rely upon self-triggering of the stimulus are often ineffective in people with PD.

Kinematic Analysis of Dance-Based Exergaming: A Cross-Sectional Study

Journal of Dance Medicine & Science ◽

10.12678/1089-313x.091521e ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ernest K. Ofori ◽

Savitha Subramaniam ◽

Shuaijie Wang ◽

Tanvi Bhatt

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Postural Stability ◽

Center Of Mass ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Age Related ◽

Aging Populations ◽

Cortical Pathology

Background: Recent studies demonstrate improvements in both postural stability and mobility among aging populations and those with stroke who are exposed to dance-based exergaming (DBExG). However, age-related deficits and aging with cortical pathology may lead to distinct movement adaptation patterns during DBExG, which could impact therapeutic outcomes.Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the movement kinematics (postural stability and mobility) of healthy older adults, older adults with stroke, and young adults for different paces of dance during DBExG. Method: The study included 33 particpants (11 participant from each group of healthy older adults, older adults with chronic stroke, and healthy young adults) who performed the DBExG using slow- (SP), medium- (MP), and fast-paced (FP) songs with movements in the anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions. Center of mass (CoM) sway area, excursion (Ex), and peaks as well as hip, knee, and ankle joint excursions were computed. Results: Results of the study revealed that CoM sway areas and Exs were greater for healthy young adults than for older adults with stroke for the SP dance (p < 0.05) and that there were significantly more AP CoM peaks for young adults than for healthy older adults and those with stroke for the FP dance (p < 0.05). Young adults also exhibited greater hip and ankle Exs than older adults with stroke (p < 0.05) for all song paces. Similarly, knee and ankle Exs were greater for healthy older adults than for older adults with stroke for all song paces (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The quantitative evaluation and comparison of the movement patterns presented for the three groups could provide a foundation for both assessing and designing therapeutic DBExG protocols for these populations.

Arithmetic Stroop Interference as a Function of Age: Maintenance and Modification of Automatic Processes

Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193128903300304 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 169-173 ◽

Author(s):

Wendy A. Rogers ◽

Arthur D. Fisk

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Stroop Interference ◽

Automatic Process ◽

Practical Training ◽

Automatic Processes ◽

Arithmetical Operation ◽

Old Adults ◽

Multiplication Tables ◽

This experiment investigated whether well-learned “automatic” processes remain stable as a function of age, as well as whether the ability to modify automatic processes is disrupted for older adults. We used an arithmetic “Stroop” task. Nineteen young (mean 22) and 19 old adults (mean 75) participated in three sessions for a total of 450 trials. The young subjects had faster verification times, overall, than the old adults. Both young and old subjects showed significant Stroop interference. These results support the hypothesis that automatic processes, in this case access of addition and multiplication tables, are maintained for old adults. Furthermore, both groups reduced their RT with practice. For the young adults, there was a decrease in interference with practice suggesting that they were learning to inhibit the automatic process of performing the arithmetical operation. However, the old adults showed no significant decrease in interference, which implies that they were impaired in their ability to inhibit automatic processes, even when those processes interfered with performance. Theoretical and practical training implications are discussed.

Visual-Somatosensory Integration and Balance: Evidence for Psychophysical Integrative Differences in Aging

Multisensory Research ◽

10.1163/22134808-00002444 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 17-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Jeannette R. Mahoney ◽

Roee Holtzer ◽

Joe Verghese

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Fall Risk ◽

Multisensory Processing ◽

Reaction Times ◽

The Elderly ◽

Static Balance ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Stance Time ◽

Study Participants ◽

The Relationship

Research detailing multisensory integration (MSI) processes in aging and their association with clinically relevant outcomes is virtually non-existent. To our knowledge, the relationship between MSI and balance has not been well-established in aging. Given known alterations in unisensory processing with increasing age, the aims of the current study were to determine differential behavioral patterns of MSI in aging and investigate whether MSI was significantly associated with balance and fall-risk. Seventy healthy older adults ( years; 58% female) participated in the current study. Participants were instructed to make speeded responses to visual, somatosensory, and visual-somatosensory (VS) stimuli. Based on reaction times (RTs) to all stimuli, participants were classified into one of two groups (MSI or NO MSI), depending on their MSI RT benefit. Static balance was assessed using mean unipedal stance time. Overall, results revealed that RTs to VS stimuli were significantly shorter than those elicited to constituent unisensory conditions. Further, the current experimental design afforded differential patterns of multisensory processing, with 75% of the elderly sample demonstrating multisensory enhancements. Interestingly, 25% of older adults did not demonstrate multisensory RT facilitation; a finding that was attributed to extremely fast RTs overall and specifically in response to somatosensory inputs. Individuals in the NO MSI group maintained significantly better unipedal stance times and reported less falls, compared to elders in the MSI group. This study reveals the existence of differential patterns of multisensory processing in aging, while describing the clinical translational value of MSI enhancements in predicting balance and falls risk.