Relations between aging sensory/sensorimotor and cognitive functions

Abstract

Recent evidence is reviewed to examine relations among sensory, sensorimotor, and cognitive aging. Age-heterogeneous cross-sectional data sets show substantial covariation among sensory, sensorimotor and intellectual abilities, and an increase in covariation from adulthood to old and very old age. Recent longitudinal analyses suggest that changes in sensory and intellectual functioning are interrelated. Experimental studies investigate the interdependence between cognitive and sensory/sensorimotor aging by examining the effects of simulated sensory loss on cognitive performance, or the effects of cognitive load manipulations on sensory or motor performance. Generally, both types of manipulations hinder older adults' performance more than that of younger adults. Theoretically, the age-associated intensification of the links among sensory, sensorimotor and cognitive functions observed both correlationally and experimentally may point to (a) common causes influencing all three functions; (b) an increase in resource overlap, cross-domain resource competition, and compensatory tradeoffs; and (c) a combination of the two. Future research aiming at discerning the relative import of these possibilities would profit from an integration of experimental and correlational research strategies. q 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. In this paper, we review evidence for the hypothesized increase of covariation or interdependence between sensory/sensorimotor and cognitive abilities with advancing age. It is well documented that sensory and sensorimotor abilities decline in the course of normative aging [54,57]. As well, extensive coverage of the normative age-related differences, changes, and continuities in cognitive and intellectual abilities is widely available [10,21]. Rather than reviewing these bodies of literature, we will focus selectively on empirical and theoretical work that has addressed the linkages between these domains with respect to adult development. The relevant evidence can be divided into two broad segments: (a) correlational evidence using crosssectional and longitudinal analyses, and (b) experimental evidence of an increased interdependence between domains. The final portion of our review will be devoted to discussing possible theoretical accounts of the documented relationships. Correlations between sensory, sensorimotor, and cognitive abilitiesObserved relationships between intellectual and sensory functioning have been discussed at length in the past several decades [12,54]. More recently, lifespan developmentalist Paul Baltes proposed that whereas before and during middle adulthood, interindividual variability in cognitive status is driven largely by cultural and environmental factors, in late life, variability might be increasingly constrained by biologically-based factors [7]. Subsequent to this proposal, several large-scale cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have examined the age-related changes in relationship between intellectual and sensory/sensorimotor abilities [3 -6,...

Effects of aging on the relationship between cognitive demand and step variability during dual-task walking

“…Indeed, low variability often indicates processes that proceed with little cognitive control (Newell and Corcos 1993;Hausdorff 2005). Inversely, higher levels of cognitive task difficulty would alter gait control (i.e., increased gait variability) through attentional resource competition (Li and Lindenberger 2002;Schaefer et al 2006). The two processes would trade off at lower levels of task difficulty in older adults, presumably as a result of age-related increased reliance on higher-level cognitive processes for gait control (i.e., less automaticity), coupled with reduced cognitive control efficiency (Seidler et al 2010).…”

Imaging gait analysis: An fMRI dual task study

“…ROIs: primary motor cortex (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA), cingulate motor area (CMA), superior parietal lobe (SPL) reduced resources in older adults have to be increasingly shared. So the resource overlap and competition between domains increases and compensatory resource allocation trade-offs become more frequent (Li & Lindenberger, 2002). Therefore, sensory and sensorimotor processes, including procedural memory tasks such as walking or stepping, are no longer executed fully automatically but require increased cognitive resources and turn into more attentional control-demanding tasks in older age.…”

Cognitive and sensory declines in old age: Gauging the evidence for a common cause.

“…K. Z. H. Li & Lindenberger, 2002;Lindenberger, Marsiske, & Baltes, 2000;McCoy et al, 2005;Rabbitt, 1993;Schäfer, Huxhold, & Lindenberger, 2006). First, the functional link between sensory and cognitive domains is likely to increase with advancing adult age.…”