Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2018
Abstract
Evidence from previous studies has suggested that movement execution in younger adults is accelerated in response to temporally predictable vs. unpredictable sensory stimuli. This effect indicates that external temporal information can modulate motor behavior; however, how aging can influence temporal predictive mechanisms in motor system has yet to be understood. The objective of the present study was to investigate aging effects on the initiation and inhibition of speech and hand movement reaction times in response to temporally predictable and unpredictable sensory stimuli. Fifteen younger (mean age 22.6) and fifteen older (mean age 63.8) adults performed a randomized speech vowel vocalization or button press initiation and inhibition tasks in two counterbalanced blocks in response to temporally predictable and unpredictable visual cue stimuli. Results showed that motor reaction time was accelerated in both younger and older adults for predictable vs. unpredictable stimuli during initiation and inhibition of speech and hand movement. However, older adults were significantly slower than younger adults in motor execution of speech and hand movement when stimulus timing was unpredictable. Moreover, we found that overall, motor inhibition of speech and hand was executed faster than their initiation. Our findings suggest that older adults can compensate age-related decline in motor reaction times by incorporating external temporal information and execute faster movement in response to predictable stimuli, whereas unpredictable temporal information cannot counteract aging effects efficiently and lead to less accurate motor timing predictive codes for speech production and hand movement.
Recommended Citation
Johari, K., Den Ouden, D.B., & Behroozmand, R. (2018) Effects of aging on temporal predictive mechanisms of speech and hand motor reaction time. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 30(10), 1195–1202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0902-4
Peer Reviewed
1
Copyright
Springer
Included in
Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons, Movement and Mind-Body Therapies Commons, Other Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons
Comments
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, volume 30, issue 10, in 2018 following peer review. The final publication may differ and is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0902-4.
A free-to-read copy of the final published article is available here.