Age-related deficit in a bimanual joint position matching task is amplitude dependent

The cognitive load associated with joint position sense increases with age but does not necessarily result in impaired performance in a joint position matching task. It is still unclear which factors interact with age to predict matching performance. To test whether movement amplitude and direction are part of such predictors, young and older adults performed a bimanual wrist joint position matching task. Results revealed an age-related deficit when the target limb was positioned far from (25°) the neutral position, but not when close to (15°, 5°) the neutral joint position, irrespective of the direction. These results suggest that the difficulty associated with the comparison of two musculoskeletal states increases towards extreme joint amplitude and that older adults are more vulnerable to this increased difficulty.

[1]  F. Horak,et al.  Contributions of altered sensation and feedback responses to changes in coordination of postural control due to aging. , 2002, Gait & posture.

[2]  Vincent Nougier,et al.  Proprioception: Bilateral inputs first , 2013, Neuroscience Letters.

[3]  H. Clamann.  Statistical analysis of motor unit firing patterns in a human skeletal muscle. , 1969, Biophysical journal.

[4]  F. M. Henry.  Absolute Error vs "E" in Target Accuracy. , 1975, Journal of motor behavior.

[5]  Jacob S Nteere,et al.  Information Capacity of the Human Motor system , 1982 .

[6]  R. C. Oldfield.  The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[7]  U. Proske,et al.  Thixotropy in skeletal muscle and in muscle spindles: A review , 1993, Progress in Neurobiology.

[8]  Neil B Alexander,et al.  The influence of age and physical activity on upper limb proprioceptive ability. , 2009, Journal of aging and physical activity.

[9]  D. Goble,et al.  Upper limb asymmetries in the utilization of proprioceptive feedback , 2005, Experimental Brain Research.

[10]  L. Thornell,et al.  Fiber Content and Myosin Heavy Chain Composition of Muscle Spindles in Aged Human Biceps Brachii , 2005, The journal of histochemistry and cytochemistry : official journal of the Histochemistry Society.

[11]  Uwe Proske,et al.  The effect of fatigue from exercise on human limb position sense , 2010, The Journal of physiology.

[12]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Age-related changes in the neural correlates of motor performance. , 2003, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[13]  P. Korkusuz,et al.  Decrease in the numbers of mechanoreceptors in rabbit ACL: the effects of ageing , 2006, Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy.

[14]  E A Roy,et al.  Absolute error. , 1973, Journal of motor behavior.

[15]  Alex Chaparro,et al.  Range of motion of the wrist: implications for designing computer input devices for the elderly , 2000, Disability and rehabilitation.

[16]  M. Batavia,et al.  The effects of circumferential wrist pressure on reproduction accuracy of wrist placement in healthy young and elderly adults. , 1999, The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences.

[17]  D. Goble,et al.  Upper limb asymmetries in the matching of proprioceptive versus visual targets. , 2008, Journal of neurophysiology.

[18]  S. Gandevia,et al.  The proprioceptive senses: their roles in signaling body shape, body position and movement, and muscle force. , 2012, Physiological reviews.

[19]  J. Cummings,et al.  The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A Brief Screening Tool For Mild Cognitive Impairment , 2005, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[20]  Uwe Proske,et al.  The illusion of changed position and movement from vibrating one arm is altered by vision or movement of the other arm , 2010, The Journal of physiology.

[21]  Georg Kerkhoff,et al.  Effects of age, sex and arm on the precision of arm position sense—left-arm superiority in healthy right-handers , 2013, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[22]  U. Proske,et al.  The senses of active and passive forces at the human ankle joint , 2015, Experimental Brain Research.

[23]  Catherine Disselhorst-Klug,et al.  Perceiving One’s Own Limb Movements with Conflicting Sensory Feedback: The Role of Mode of Movement Control and Age , 2012, Front. Psychology.

[24]  T. Jordan,et al.  Age Differences in Visual and Kinesthetic Short-Term Memory , 1978, Perceptual and motor skills.

[25]  E. Juratovac,et al.  Age-Related Changes , 2017 .

[26]  Daniel J. Goble,et al.  Compromised encoding of proprioceptively determined joint angles in older adults: the role of working memory and attentional load , 2011, Experimental Brain Research.

[27]  G. Allison,et al.  Is there a difference in hip joint position sense between young and older groups? , 2003, The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences.

[28]  Christopher A. Sink,et al.  Practical Significance:The Use of Effect Sizes in School Counseling Research , 2006 .

[29]  Stephan P. Swinnen,et al.  Age-related differences in attentional cost associated with postural dual tasks: Increased recruitment of generic cognitive resources in older adults , 2013, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[30]  P. Matthews.  Relationship of firing intervals of human motor units to the trajectory of post‐spike after‐hyperpolarization and synaptic noise. , 1996, The Journal of physiology.

[31]  Uwe Proske,et al.  The contribution of motor commands to position sense differs between elbow and wrist , 2013, The Journal of physiology.

[32]  R. Enoka,et al.  Steadiness is reduced and motor unit discharge is more variable in old adults , 2000, Muscle & nerve.

[33]  S. Swinnen,et al.  The neural basis of central proprioceptive processing in older versus younger adults: An important sensory role for right putamen , 2012, Human brain mapping.

[34]  S. Swinnen,et al.  Systems Neuroplasticity in the Aging Brain: Recruiting Additional Neural Resources for Successful Motor Performance in Elderly Persons , 2008, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[35]  P. Fitts.  The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement. , 1954, Journal of experimental psychology.

[36]  D. Burke,et al.  Responses to passive movement of receptors in joint, skin and muscle of the human hand. , 1988, The Journal of physiology.

[37]  V. Nougier,et al.  Ageing of internal models: from a continuous to an intermittent proprioceptive control of movement , 2013, AGE.

[38]  Christopher A. Buneo,et al.  The Proprioceptive Map of the Arm Is Systematic and Stable, but Idiosyncratic , 2011, PloS one.

[39]  Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The aging skin. , 1986, Dermatologic clinics.

[40]  Iseult A. M. Beets,et al.  Vision of the active limb impairs bimanual motor tracking in young and older adults , 2014, Front. Aging Neurosci..

[41]  J. Oliveira,et al.  Aging effects on joint proprioception: the role of physical activity in proprioception preservation , 2007, European Review of Aging and Physical Activity.

[42]  S. Swinnen,et al.  Proprioceptive sensibility in the elderly: Degeneration, functional consequences and plastic-adaptive processes , 2009, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[43]  U. Proske,et al.  Effect of muscle fatigue on the sense of limb position and movement , 2006, Experimental Brain Research.

[44]  George E. Stelmach,et al.  Aging and proprioception , 1986, AGE.

[45]  D. Connelly,et al.  Reliability and validity of ankle proprioceptive measures. , 2003, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[46]  S. Swinnen,et al.  Proprioception in the cerebellum , 2014, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[47]  P. Fitts,et al.  INFORMATION CAPACITY OF DISCRETE MOTOR RESPONSES. , 1964, Journal of experimental psychology.

[48]  S. Swinnen,et al.  The neural control of bimanual movements in the elderly: Brain regions exhibiting age‐related increases in activity, frequency‐induced neural modulation, and task‐specific compensatory recruitment , 2010, Human brain mapping.

[49]  Vincent Nougier,et al.  Presbypropria: the effects of physiological ageing on proprioceptive control , 2012, AGE.