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Age-related changes in post-movement beta synchronization during a selective inhibition task

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Abstract

Post-movement beta synchronization (PMBS) modulations have been related to sensory reafferences after movement initiation and inhibitory processes after movement interruption. Although these processes have been separately studied in young and old adults, little is known about the age-related changes in PMBS during selective inhibitory control (i.e. stop a part of an action). The present study examines the age-related modulations of PMBS associated with sensory reafferences and inhibitory processes in selective inhibitory control. Young (n = 17) and old (n = 13) participants performed a switching task first engaging bimanual finger tapping then requiring to stop the left while maintaining the right unimanual tapping (i.e. selective inhibition) at an imperative stimulus. Age groups were compared on behavioral (mean, variability and percentage of errors of inter-tap interval during and after the switching) and electrophysiological (time–frequency and source estimations in the 14–30 Hz beta frequency range) data time-locked on the imperative stimulus. Behaviorally, old adults showed larger variability and percentage of errors during the switching but performed as well as young adults after the switching. Electrophysiologically, PMBS significantly increased after the switching in the old compared to the young group within bilateral frontal and parietal areas. Our results show that the effort to maintain selective inhibition involves increased brain activation in old compared to young adults. The larger PMBS within frontal and parietal regions in old adults may reflect an age-related brain compensation enabling to efficiently maintain post-switching inhibition.

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Acknowledgments

Cartool software has been programmed by Denis Brunet, from the Functional Brain Mapping Laboratory, Geneva, Switzerland, and supported by the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM) of Geneva and Lausanne.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group of Institute of Sport Science, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Etienne Sallard & Jérôme Barral

  2. Toulouse Neuroimaging Center UMR1214, INSERM/UPS CHU PURPAN, Pavillon BAUDOT, 31024, Toulouse, France

    Jessica Tallet

  3. Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Gregor Thut

  4. Biomarkers of Vulnerability Unit, Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Marie-Pierre Deiber

  5. INSERM U1039, Faculty of Medicine, La Tronche, France

    Marie-Pierre Deiber

  6. Human Cortical Physiology and Stroke Neurorehabilitation Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Building 10, Room 7D50-52, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Etienne Sallard

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  1. Etienne Sallard
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  2. Jessica Tallet
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  3. Gregor Thut
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Correspondence to Etienne Sallard.

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Sallard, E., Tallet, J., Thut, G. et al. Age-related changes in post-movement beta synchronization during a selective inhibition task. Exp Brain Res 234, 3543–3553 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4753-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-016-4753-y

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