Aging and tactile temporal order

Abstract

Although it is generally held that speed of processing declines with age, there have been few studies in which tactile temporal processing has been examined with older subjects. In the present study, temporal order judgments were obtained from a group of younger subjects (n 28, mean age 23.5 years) and a group of older subjects (n 93, mean age 69.8 years). The subjects judged the temporal order of two patterns presented to the same finger, four patterns presented to the same finger, and two patterns presented to different hands. Depending on the task, the average thresholds for the older subjects ranged from two to five times longer than the thresholds from the younger subjects. In absolute terms, the largest difference between the young and older subjects was seen in correctly identifying the order of four patterns, a difference of more than 500 msec. There was some support for the decline in temporal processing being due in part to a slowing in cognitive processing, and, depending on the task, in part to stimulus persistence and difficulty in pattern identification.

Sensory–Cognitive Interactions in Older Adults

“…Another exception to this can be found in a series of recent reports from our research group (Humes et al, 2009; Craig et al, 2010; Fogerty et al, 2010; Humes et al, 2010; Busey et al, 2010; Humes et al, 2013). Across this series of studies, rigorous criterion-free psychophysical measures of threshold sensitivity and temporal processing were obtained from samples of 150-250 young, middle-age, and older adults in hearing, vision and touch in each study, with the exact sample sizes for each age group varying somewhat from study to study.…”

Slowing Down: Age-Related Neurobiological Predictors of Processing Speed

“…The frontal findings, in particular, could explain why changes in auditory gap detection (Harris et al, 2010) and tactile temporal order thresholds (Craig et al, 2010) have been related to visual–motor measures of processing speed. It is difficult to determine, however, from the results presented in Figure 1A whether widespread anatomical effects stem from a common mechanism or whether unique neural systems are affected.…”

Are age-related changes in cognitive function driven by age-related changes in sensory processing?

“…The following advancements were made in this project, relative to previously completed studies of this problem: (1) three senses, hearing, vision, and touch, were included; (2) rigorous, reliable, criterion-free psychophysical methods were used throughout; (3) multiple measures of acuity and temporal processing were obtained in each of the three senses; and (4) for a laboratory-based study, a relatively large sample of subjects ( N = 245) was included. For various auditory, visual, and tactile measures, the group data and some correlational analyses for subsets of subjects have been presented elsewhere in a series of publications (Busey, Craig, Clark, & Humes, 2010; Craig, Rhodes, Busey, Kewley-Port, & Humes, 2010; Fogerty, Humes, & Kewley-Port, 2010; Humes, Busey, Craig, & Kewley-Port, 2009; Humes, Kewley-Port, Fogerty, & Kinney, 2010). However, each of these studies presented only subsets of results focused primarily on separate modalities or tasks.…”