PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Manual motor performance declines with age, but the extent to which age influences the acquisition of new skills remains a topic of debate. Here, we examined whether older healthy adults show less training-dependent performance improvements during a single session of a bimanual pinch task than younger adults. We also explored whether physical and cognitive factors, such as grip strength or motor-cognitive ability, are associated with performance improvements. Healthy younger (n = 16) and older (n = 20) adults performed three training blocks separated by short breaks. Participants were tasked with producing visually instructed changes in pinch force using their right and left thumb and index fingers. Task complexity was varied by shifting between bimanual mirror-symmetric and inverse-asymmetric changes in pinch force. Older adults generally displayed higher visuomotor force tracking errors during the more complex inverse-asymmetric task compared to younger adults. Both groups showed a comparable net decrease in visuomotor force tracking error over the entire session, but their improvement trajectories differed. Young adults showed enhanced visuomotor tracking error only in the first block, while older adults exhibited a more gradual improvement over the three training blocks. Furthermore, grip strength and performance on a motor-cognitive test battery scaled positively with individual performance improvements during the first block in both age groups. Together, the results show subtle age-dependent differences in the rate of bimanual visuomotor skill acquisition, while overall short-term learning ability is maintained.
摘要：
手动电机性能随年龄下降，但是年龄在多大程度上影响新技能的获得仍然是一个争论的话题。这里,我们研究了老年健康成年人在一次双手捏夹任务中是否比年轻成年人表现出更少的训练依赖表现改善.我们还探讨了身体和认知因素，如握力或运动认知能力，与性能改进相关。健康的年轻人（n=16）和老年人（n=20）进行了三个训练块，由短暂的休息隔开。参与者的任务是使用左右拇指和食指产生视觉指示的捏力变化。通过在夹紧力的双镜像对称和反非对称变化之间进行转换，改变了任务的复杂性。与年轻人相比，老年人在更复杂的逆非对称任务中通常表现出更高的视觉运动力跟踪误差。两组在整个疗程中视觉运动力跟踪误差均显示出相当的净下降，但是他们的改进轨迹不同。年轻人仅在第一块表现出增强的视觉运动跟踪误差，而老年人在三个训练组中表现出更渐进的改善。此外，在运动认知测试电池上的握力和表现在两个年龄组的第一个阻滞期间随着个体表现的改善而呈正比例.一起,结果表明，在双视觉运动技能获得率方面存在微妙的年龄依赖性差异，同时保持整体短期学习能力。
