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Aging of sensorimotor processes: a systematic study in Fitts’ task

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Abstract

Though age-related decrease in information-processing capacities is hypothesized to be a prominent cause of behavioral slowing, it has been scarcely systematically studied in goal-directed motor tasks. The present study investigated how the decrease in information processing affects the sensorimotor processes underlying the control of a discrete Fitts’ task. The index of difficulty (ID) of the task was manipulated using changes in either target distance (D) or target width (W). In each manipulation, movement (MTs), acceleration (ATs) and deceleration times (DTs) of young and older participants were compared across eight ID levels. They were analyzed with efficiency functions, state traces and Brinley plots. Our results showed that older participants were always slower. However, in both age groups, MTs were longer in D manipulation, which resulted from a slowing of both ATs and DTs, while W manipulation affected mainly DTs. In D manipulation, equivalent age-related slowing ratios were observed for AT and DT (1.3). In W manipulation, ATs of older participants were additively slower than those of young participants. Conversely, DTs presented a multiplicative slowing ratio of 1.3. These findings showed that ID manipulations differentially loaded information processing in the nervous system and that age-related slowing of multisensory control processes was independent of the manipulated dimension. Nevertheless, ID manipulations revealed different age-related adaptations to task constraints, suggesting that D and W manipulations are complementary means to assess age-related slowing of the processes involved in target-directed rapid-aiming tasks, with D scaling being more specific to capture the slowing of force-impulse control.

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Notes

  1. Modifications in force-impulse control, reflected in the kinematics and duration of the acceleration phase, should not be confused with the duration of the programing process itself, which can be measured by the reaction time.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by a doctoral fellowship awarded by AXA research fund to B. Rey-Robert. The authors thank C. Molines and A. Langar for their contribution to the recruitment and assessment of older participants. We also thank anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier version of the ms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS, ISM UMR 7287, Faculté des Sciences du Sport, Institut des Sciences du Mouvement, 163 Route de Luminy, BP 910, 13288, Marseille cedex 09, France

    Jean-Jacques Temprado, Rita Sleimen-Malkoun, Benoit Rey-Robert & Eric Berton

  2. CNRS, LPC UMR 7290, Aix-Marseille Université, 13331, Marseille cedex 03, France

    Patrick Lemaire

  3. EA3279, Evaluation des Systèmes de Soins et Santé Perçue, Aix-Marseille Université, 13385, Marseille cedex 05, France

    Frédérique Retornaz

  4. Centre Gérontologique Départemental, 13012, Marseille, France

    Frédérique Retornaz

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  1. Jean-Jacques Temprado
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  2. Rita Sleimen-Malkoun
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  3. Patrick Lemaire
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  4. Benoit Rey-Robert
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  5. Frédérique Retornaz
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  6. Eric Berton
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Correspondence to Jean-Jacques Temprado.

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Temprado, JJ., Sleimen-Malkoun, R., Lemaire, P. et al. Aging of sensorimotor processes: a systematic study in Fitts’ task. Exp Brain Res 228, 105–116 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3542-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3542-0

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