Mitra, S., Doherty, Nicola, Boulton, Hayley and Maylor, Elizabeth A. (2016) Age-related reversal of postural adjustment characteristics during motor imagery. Psychology and Aging, 31 (8). pp. 958-969. doi:10.1037/pag0000120

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Abstract

Physical and imagined movements show similar behavioral constraints and neurophysiological activation patterns. An inhibition mechanism is thought to suppress overt movement during motor imagery, but it does not effectively suppress autonomic or postural adjustments. Inhibitory processes and postural stability both deteriorate with age. Thus, older people’s balance is potentially vulnerable to interference from postural adjustments induced by thoughts about past or future actions. Here, young and older adults stood upright and executed or imagined manual reaching movements. Reported arm movement time (MT) of all participants increased with target distance. Older participants reported longer MT than young participants when executing arm movements, but not when imagining them. Older adults’ anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) postural sway was higher than young adults’ at baseline, but their AP sway fell below their baseline level during manual imagery. In contrast, young adults’ AP sway increased during imagery relative to their baseline. A similar tendency to reduce sway in the ML direction was also observed in older adults during imagery in a challenging stance. These results suggest that postural response during manual motor imagery reverses direction with age. Motor imagery and action planning are ubiquitous tasks, and older people are likely to spend more time engaged in them. The shift toward restricting body sway during these tasks is akin to a postural threat response with the potential to interfere with balance during activities of daily living.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QP Physiology
Divisions:	Faculty of Science > Psychology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Aging -- Physiological aspects, Posture , Neurophysiology
Journal or Publication Title:	Psychology and Aging
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
ISSN:	0882-7974
Official Date:	December 2016
Dates:	Date Event December 2016 Published 3 November 2016 Available 15 July 2016 Accepted 1 December 2015 Submitted
Volume:	31
Number:	8
Page Range:	pp. 958-969
DOI:	10.1037/pag0000120
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Funder:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC), University of Warwick Postgraduate Research Fellowship
Grant number:	Grant RES-000-22-4433 (ESRC)

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