Age-specific neural strategies to maintain motor performance after an acute social stress bout

Abstract

Stress due to cognitive demands and fatigue have shown to impair motor performance in older adults; however, the effect of social stress and its influence on prefrontal cortex (PFC) functioning in older adults during upper extremity motor performance tasks is not known. The present study explored the after-effects of an acute social stress bout on neural strategies, measured using PFC and hand/arm muscle activation, and adopted by younger and older adults to maintain handgrip force control. Nine older [74.1 (6.5) years; three men, six women] and ten younger [24.2 (5.0) years, four men, six women] adults performed handgrip force control trials at 30% maximum voluntary contractions before and after the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). PFC activity was measured using functional near infrared spectroscopy and muscle activity from the flexor and extensor carpi radialis (FCR/ECR) was measured using electromyography. In general, aging was associated with decreased force steadiness and force complexity with a concomitant increase in bilateral PFC activity. While motor performance remained comparable before and after the TSST stress session in both age groups, the associated neural strategies differed between groups. While the stress condition was associated with lower FCR and ECR activity in younger adults despite no change in the PFC activation, stress was associated with increases in FCR activity in older adults. This stress-related compensatory neural strategy of increasing hand/arm muscle activation, potentially via the additional recruitment of the stress-motor neural circuitry, may have played a role in maintaining motor performance in older adults.

Neural Efficiency of Human–Robotic Feedback Modalities Under Stress Differs With Gender

“…Consistent with Wetzel et al (2006) and Arora et al (2010) task performance (proximity score) was impaired by stress. This also corroborates with findings reported in the larger motor control literature on the impact of stress on motor performance and coordination (Mehta and Agnew, 2012; Mehta, 2015; Mehta and Rhee, 2017).…”

Revealing Sex Differences During Upper and Lower Extremity Neuromuscular Fatigue in Older Adults Through a Neuroergonomics Approach

“…Processed optical density changes were then converted into hemodynamic responses changes of Oxygenated (ΔHbO) and Deoxygenated (ΔHbR) hemoglobin concentration using modified Beer-Lambert law. The average ΔHbO and ΔHbR levels of 2 s window prior to event stimulation of each trial was subtracted from the average ΔHbO and ΔHbR levels of 2 s around maximum ΔHbO and ΔHbR levels within 4−18 s during each force control trial to acquire task-related neural hemodynamic response changes ( Figure 2C ) (Mehta and Rhee, 2017 ; Rhee and Mehta, 2019 ). Statistical analyses were conducted on ΔHbO as it has shown greater sensitivity to task related changes compared to ΔHbR (Malonek and Grinvald, 1996 ).…”

The contemporary model of vertebral column joint dysfunction and impact of high-velocity, low-amplitude controlled vertebral thrusts on neuromuscular function

“…However, under certain conditions (for example stress), or due to certain personality traits, this may not be possible for everyone's CNS to do. There might be some conditions, such as when a person is under a lot of psychological or physiological stress and/or during high attention-demanding situations, that such factors interfere with this process as these are known to influence various aspects of motor control (Hodges and Moseley 2003;Marras et al 2000;Singaravelu et al 2021;Mehta and Rhee 2017;Bertilsson 2019). It is also possible that the presence of fear and/or pain and even your personality might influence spinal motor control and its consequences (Moseley 2003;van Dieën et al 2018van Dieën et al , 2019.…”