Age-related effects in sequential motor learning.
OBJECTIVE
When learning multi-element movement sequences, participants organize individual elements into subsequences. Imposing this type of structure on the elements leads to the efficient production of sequences because the processing of all but the first elements in a subsequence can be completed prior to their execution. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether older adults organize lengthy movement sequences with the same efficiency as young adults.


METHODS
Participants were young adults (N=8, 19-23 years of age) and older adults (N=8, 65-68 years of age). The task required participants to move a lever as quickly as possible to targets sequentially projected on a tabletop. At various stages during practice, random practice blocks were inserted between the repeated sequence blocks. Repeated and random sequence retention tests were administered after 24 hours.


RESULTS
The results indicated that the young adults performed the repeated sequences substantially faster than the older adults and that this difference increased over practice. On the retention tests, there were no differences in response time for the random sequence blocks, but the young performers were substantially faster than the older performers when repeated sequences were used. No differences were detected in the interview or on the recognition (chi square=1.22, P>.05) and completion (chi square=0.89, P>.05) tests designed to determine explicit or implicit knowledge of the sequences.


CONCLUSIONS
Analysis of the sequence structure indicated that the older adults did not organize their responses into subsequences as effectively as the young adults. The failure of older adults to optimally organize movement sequences may contribute to the overall slowing of sequential movement production.
Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4243, USA. cshea@tamu.edu
Charles H
CH
Shea
Jin-Hoon
JH
Park
Heather Wilde
HW
Braden
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors