Van Halewyck, F, Lavrysen, A, Levin, O, Boisgontier, MP, Elliott, D and Helsen, WF (2015) Factors underlying age-related changes in discrete aiming. EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH, 233 (6). pp. 1733-1744. ISSN 0014-4819

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Abstract

Age has a clear impact on one’s ability to make accurate goal-directed aiming movements. Older adults seem to plan slower and shorter-ranged initial pulses towards the target, and rely more on sensory feedback to ensure endpoint accuracy. Despite the fact that these age-related changes in manual aiming have been observed consistently, the underlying mechanism remains speculative. In an attempt to isolate four commonly suggested underlying factors, young and older adults were instructed to make discrete aiming movements under varying speed and accuracy constraints. Results showed that older adults were physically able to produce fast primary submovements and that they demonstrated similar movement-programming capacities as young adults. On the other hand, considerable evidence was found supporting a decreased visual feedback-processing efficiency and the implementation of a play-it-safe strategy in older age. In conclusion, a combination of the latter two factors seems to underlie the age-related changes in manual aiming behaviour.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-015-4247-3
Uncontrolled Keywords:	11 Medical And Health Sciences, 17 Psychology And Cognitive Sciences
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Divisions:	Sport & Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Springer Verlag
Related URLs:	Author
Date Deposited:	01 Jul 2015 12:54
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 14:16
DOI or ID number:	10.1007/s00221-015-4247-3
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/1485

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