Practice effects on fractionated response time related to age and activity level.

Two days of practice on simple and choice reaction (RT) and movement time (MT) were studied using 60 males placed into four groups based upon age and physical activity level. Practice effects upon simple and choice RTs were different for young and old groups. Only the two inactive groups improved on simple and choice MT, with greatest improvement occurring on simple MT. Old Actives had true-score variance than the Old Inactives, but much greater than the two young groups. Intraindividual variability was greater for the two older groups even in the absence of practice effects. Results support the claim that a life style or regular physical activity may lessen aging effects upon RT and MT as well as attenuating interindividual variability.

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