Neural Basis of Aging: The Penetration of Cognition into Action Control

Abstract

Although functional imaging studies have frequently examined age-related changes in neural recruitment during cognitive tasks, much less is known about such changes during motor performance. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate age-related changes in cyclical hand and/or foot movements across different degrees of complexity. Right-handed volunteers (11 young, 10 old) were scanned while performing isolated flexion-extension movements of the right wrist and foot as well as their coordination, according to the "easy" isodirectional and "difficult" nonisodirectional mode. Findings revealed activation of a typical motor network in both age groups, but several additional brain areas were involved in the elderly. Regardless of the performed motor task, the elderly exhibited additional activation in areas involved in sensory processing and integration, such as contralateral anterior insula, frontal operculum, superior temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, secondary somatosensory area, and ipsilateral precuneus. Age-related activation differences during coordination of both segments were additionally observed in areas reflecting increased cognitive monitoring of motor performance, such as the pre-supplementary motor area, pre-dorsal premotor area, rostral cingulate, and prefrontal cortex. In the most complex coordination task, the elderly exhibited additional activation in anterior rostral cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, known to be involved in suppression of prepotent response tendencies and inhibitory cognitive control. Overall, these findings are indicative of an age-related shift along the continuum from automatic to more controlled processing of movement. This increased cognitive monitoring of movement refers to enhanced attentional deployment, more pronounced processing of sensory information, and intersensory integration.

Ageing of internal models: from a continuous to an intermittent proprioceptive control of movement

“…Indeed, recent studies showed that older adults could reach levels of motor performance comparable to those obtained in young adults. However, to reach such levels of performance, older adults had to recruit additional attentional and cortical resources which could be interpreted as a compensating mechanism (Boisgontier et al 2012;Goble et al 2010a, b;Heuninckx et al 2004Heuninckx et al , 2005Heuninckx et al , 2008Hutchinson et al 2002;Mattay et al 2002;Naccarato et al 2006). This additional recruitment reduced the remaining attentional and cortical resources as evidenced by a degraded behavioural performance in older adults when the task complexity increased (Boisgontier et al 2012;Goble et al 2012b;Heuninckx et al 2004;Seidler et al 2002).…”

Age-related differences in proprioceptive and visuo-proprioceptive function in relation to fine motor behaviour

“…The proprioception state may be even more challenging in older people and cause poor balance (Lin and Woollacott 2005) and irregularity of gait, especially with cognitive load (Shellenbach et al 2010). Research using fMRI has also identified an age-related shift from automatic to more cognitively controlled movements as subjects get older (Heuninckx et al 2005). In addition, elderly subjects were found to rely more on visual control when they learnt and performed a precision locomotor task (van Hedel and Dietz 2004).…”

Interference of action perception on action production increases across the adult life span

“…The activity of this system is shown to change with age (Sharma & Baron, 2014;Ward, 2006;Ward & Frackowiak, 2003), which is associated with a decrease of action perception (e.g., accuracy of action prediction, Diersch et al, 2012) and action production (e.g., greater movement variability and deficits in coordination, Seidler et al, 2010). Furthermore, older adults compared to younger adults show activation in additional brain areas during movement execution, coordination and action perception (Diersch et al, 2016;Heuninckx et al, 2005;Heuninckx, Wenderoth, & Swinnen, 2008. As age advances, action perception and production might be increasingly associated with the activation of motor programs that are irrelevant for the on-going task.…”

“…Supporting this notion, the sensorimotor system undergoes age-related changes (Heuninckx, Wenderoth, Debaere, Peeters, & Swinnen, 2005;Sharma & Baron, 2014;Ward, 2006;Ward & Frackowiak, 2003). On the behavioural level, these changes result in greater movement variability, general slowing of movements and coordination deficits with increasing age (Seidler et al, 2010).…”