Learning of bimanual motor sequences in normal aging

Bhakuni, Rashmi; Mutha, Pratik K.

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2015.00076

Cited by 24 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 70 publications

(88 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These results corroborate prior unilateral evidence that implicit learning is preserved with aging while explicit learning declines [78]. Switch cost times (change in response time when the sequence was switched between hands) were also examined [76], [77]. Older adults demonstrated greater switch cost times at baseline, which were thought to be reflective of reduced IHI or less asymmetric cortical activation for motor planning and execution.…”

Section: Motor Learning Implications For Rehabilitationsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…Two investigations used a bimanual sequence learning task to assess motor learning differences between young and older adults [76], [77]. One used an implicit learning approach and illustrated no learning deficit in the older group [76], while the other used an explicit learning approach and found that older adults demonstrated reduced motor learning [77].…”

Section: Motor Learning Implications For Rehabilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Age-related Changes in Bilateral Upper Extremity Coordination

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although evidence exists that changes in sensorimotor function occur with aging, changes in the bilateral coordination of the upper extremities is less understood. Here, we review the behavioral and neural evidence of declines in bilateral coordination as well as the implications these deficits have on function and physical rehabilitation. We begin with an introduction to the two major forms of bilateral coordination, symmetric and non-symmetric and their sub-groupings. After discussing the motor performance changes with age in symmetric tasks, we address age-related changes in motor lateralization that may affect the bilateral coordination of non-symmetric coordination. This is followed by a discussion of the contributions of cognitive, sensory, and cortical changes with age that influence and underlie bilateral motor performance. Finally, age-related changes in motor learning of bilateral movements are also considered. In general, most age related changes are found in complex symmetric movements but, surprisingly, there is a dearth of information about changes in the more challenging and ubiquitous non-symmetric bilateral movements. Future investigations should focus on broadening the understanding of age-related changes in complex, functionally relevant bilateral movements, such that the real-world implications of these changes may be derived.

show abstract

Section: Motor Learning Implications For Rehabilitationsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Motor Learning Implications For Rehabilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-related Changes in Bilateral Upper Extremity Coordination

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The remaining 12 studies support the model of age invariance with findings of relatively spared procedural learning in ageing. In line with the baseline speed problem evident in the studies with children, one study has found that initial greater learning-related gains in raw RTs in older adults disappeared after normalizing the RT data (i.e., Bhakuni & Mutha, 2015). Two studies have reported that although learning is evident later in the task, older adults need more practice to show sequence-specific learning in RT measures compared to young adults (Daselaar, Rombouts, Veltman, Raaijmakers, & Jonker, 2003;Fraser, Li, & Penhune, 2009).…”

Section: Typical Developmentmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Importantly, this was true despite higher baseline RTs in the older adults in both studies, which makes correcting for baseline speed arguable. The findings regarding accuracy are mixed, with one study reporting no age differences (Bhakuni & Mutha, ), four studies reporting higher accuracies for younger adults (i.e., Daselaar et al ., ; Foster & Giovanello, ; Fraser et al ., ; Verneau, van der Kamp, Savelsbergh, & de Looze, ), and three studies reporting higher accuracies for older adults (i.e., Bo, Jennett, & Seidler, ; Howard & Howard, , ).…”

Section: Typical Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Procedural learning across the lifespan: A systematic review with implications for atypical development

Zwart

Vissers²,

Kessels

et al. 2017

Journal of Neuropsychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This systematic review aimed to investigate procedural learning across the lifespan in typical and atypical development. Procedural learning is essential for the development of everyday skills, including language and communication skills. Although procedural learning efficiency has been extensively studied, there is no consensus yet on potential procedural learning changes during development and ageing. Currently, three conflicting models regarding this trajectory exist: (1) a model of age invariance; (2a) a model with a peak in young adulthood; and (2b) a model with a plateau in childhood followed by a decline. The aims of this study were (1) to investigate this debate on procedural learning across the lifespan by systematically reviewing evidence for each model from studies using the serial reaction time task; and (2) to review procedural learning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI), two developmental disorders characterized by deficits in communication skills, in the light of these models. Our findings on typical development strongly support a model of age-related changes (Model 2a or 2b) and show that mixed findings regarding the developmental trajectory during childhood can be explained by methodological differences across studies. Applying these conclusions to systematic reviews of studies of ASD and SLI makes it clear that there is a strong need for the inclusion of multiple age groups in these clinical studies to model procedural learning in atypical development. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed. Future research should focus on the role of declarative learning in both typical and atypical development.

show abstract

“…How can age-related differences in these lower level (perceptual-motor) processes affect task-general and task-specific learning? It has been suggested that slower responses generally provide 'more room to improve' during practice (e.g., Bhakuni & Mutha, 2015;Jiang, Capistrano, Esler, & Swallow, 2013). According to this argument, participants with initially slower response times should exhibit a greater speed-up (i.e., task-general learning) during practice compared to others with initially faster response times.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there more room to improve? The lifespan trajectory of procedural learning and its relationship to the between- and within-group differences in average response times

Juhasz

Németh

Janacsek

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Characterizing the developmental trajectories of cognitive functions such as learning, memory and decision making across the lifespan faces fundamental challenges. Cognitive functions typically encompass several processes that can be differentially affected by age.Methodological issues also arise when comparisons are made across age groups that differ in basic performance measures, such as in average response times (RTs). Here we focus on procedural learning -a fundamental cognitive function that underlies the acquisition of cognitive, social, and motor skills -and demonstrate how disentangling subprocesses of learning and controlling for differences in average RTs can reveal different developmental trajectories across the human lifespan. Two hundred-seventy participants aged between 7 and 85 years performed a probabilistic sequence learning task that enabled us to separately measure two processes of procedural learning, namely general skill learning and statistical learning. Using raw RT measures, in between-group comparisons, we found a U-shaped trajectory with children and older adults exhibiting greater general skill learning compared to adolescents and younger adults. However, when we controlled for differences in average RTs (either by using ratio scores or focusing on a subsample of participants with similar average speed), only children (but not older adults) demonstrated superior general skill learning consistently across analyses. Testing the relationship between average RTs and general skill learning within age groups shed light on further age-related differences, suggesting that general skill learning measures are more affected by average speed in some age groups.Consistent with previous studies of learning probabilistic regularities, statistical learning showed a gradual decline across the lifespan, and learning performance seemed to be independent of average speed, regardless of the age group. Overall, our results suggest that children are superior learners in various aspects of procedural learning, including both general skill and statistical learning. Our study also highlights the importance to test, and control for, the effect of average speed on other RT measures of cognitive functions, which can fundamentally affect the interpretation of group differences in developmental, aging and clinical psychology and neuroscience studies.

show abstract

Learning of bimanual motor sequences in normal aging

Cited by 24 publications

References 70 publications

Age-related Changes in Bilateral Upper Extremity Coordination

Age-related Changes in Bilateral Upper Extremity Coordination

Procedural learning across the lifespan: A systematic review with implications for atypical development

Is there more room to improve? The lifespan trajectory of procedural learning and its relationship to the between- and within-group differences in average response times

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About