title: Diminished joint coordination with aging leads to more variable hand paths.
abstract: Differences in joint coordination between arms and due to aging were studied in healthy young and older adults reaching to either a fixed, central target or to the same target when it could unexpectedly change location after reach initiation. Joint coordination was investigated by artificially removing the covariation of each joint's motions with other joints' motions. Uncontrolled manifold analysis was used to partition joint configuration variance into variance reflecting motor abundance (VUCM) and variance causing hand path variability (VORT). The extent to which VORT, related to the consistency of the hand path, increased after removing a joint's covariation indicated the strength of its coordination with other joints. Young adults exhibited stronger indices of joint coordination, evidenced by a larger increase in VORT after removing joint covariation than for older adults. This effect was more striking for the dominant right compared to the left arm for young adults, but not for older adults, especially with target uncertainty. The results indicate that interjoint coordination in young adults leads to less hand path variability compared to older adults.
authors.affiliation: Biomechanics and Movement Science Program, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA. Electronic address: gera@udel.edu.
authors.forename: Geetanjali Gera
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.forename: Sandra Maria Sbeghen Ferreira
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.forename: John Peter
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Scholz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007596:Joints / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values
keywords: 2330; Aging; Coordination; Reaching; Uncontrolled manifold analysis
references.citation: Motor Control. 2002 Apr;6(2):183-207
references.pmid: 12122226
references.citation: Motor Control. 2007 Jul;11(3):259-75
references.pmid: 17715459
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 1997 Oct;117(1):148-52
references.pmid: 9386013
references.citation: Clin Neurophysiol. 2007 Mar;118(3):525-37
references.pmid: 17204456
references.citation: Acta Psychol (Amst). 2005 Oct;120(2):172-98
references.pmid: 15939387
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 1999 Jun;126(3):289-306
references.pmid: 10382616
references.citation: Neurosci Lett. 2007 Apr 24;417(1):66-71
references.pmid: 17331643
references.citation: Psychol Aging. 2002 Mar;17(1):85-100
references.pmid: 11931290
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 1995;105(1):163-74
references.pmid: 7589312
references.citation: Cortex. 2001 Feb;37(1):101-22
references.pmid: 11292156
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2002 Nov;17(3):1394-402
references.pmid: 12414279
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2002 Jan;142(2):163-80
references.pmid: 11807572
references.citation: Brain. 2003 Nov;126(Pt 11):2510-27
references.pmid: 12958080
references.citation: Exp Aging Res. 2007 Oct-Dec;33(4):399-415
references.pmid: 17886015
references.citation: Motor Control. 2010 Jan;14(1):83-115
references.pmid: 20237405
references.citation: Neurosci Lett. 2011 Feb 4;489(2):99-104
references.pmid: 21144883
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2008 Feb;99(2):500-13
references.pmid: 18046000
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2000 May;83(5):2661-75
references.pmid: 10805666
references.citation: Motor Control. 2002 Jan;6(1):19-31
references.pmid: 11842268
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 1998 Apr;119(4):467-74
references.pmid: 9588781
references.citation: Acta Psychol (Amst). 1994 Feb;85(1):1-13
references.pmid: 8165920
references.citation: Neurobiol Aging. 2012 Jan;33(1):200.e1-10
references.pmid: 20724037
references.citation: Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 2005 Oct;33(4):206-13
references.pmid: 16239839
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 1983 Feb;49(2):548-64
references.pmid: 6834087
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2006 Apr;170(2):265-76
references.pmid: 16328275
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2002 Oct;146(4):419-32
references.pmid: 12355270
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 1986;62(2):303-11
references.pmid: 3709715
references.citation: Hum Mov Sci. 2009 Apr;28(2):169-90
references.pmid: 19230996
references.citation: Motor Control. 2007 Jul;11(3):276-308
references.pmid: 17715460
references.citation: J Neurosci Methods. 2011 Sep 15;200(2):199-206
references.pmid: 21513738
references.citation: Biol Cybern. 1999 Jun;80(6):449-63
references.pmid: 10420570
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2003 Dec;90(6):3816-27
references.pmid: 12930815
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2005 Sep;166(1):1-16
references.pmid: 16132966
references.citation: J Biomech. 2010 Mar 3;43(4):775-7
references.pmid: 19922938
references.citation: Cortex. 2001 Feb;37(1):123-38
references.pmid: 11292158
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2002 Aug;145(4):437-47
references.pmid: 12172655
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 1971 Mar;9(1):97-113
references.pmid: 5146491
references.citation: J Biomech. 1993 Dec;26(12):1473-7
references.pmid: 8308052
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2011 Apr;210(2):283-90
references.pmid: 21424842
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2002 Dec;147(3):305-12
references.pmid: 12428138
references.citation: Psychol Aging. 2009 Dec;24(4):809-18
references.pmid: 20025397
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2001 Nov;141(2):153-65
references.pmid: 11713627
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2007 Apr;97(4):3024-35
references.pmid: 17314243
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 2007 Jun;180(1):163-79
references.pmid: 17256165
references.citation: J R Soc Interface. 2010 May 6;7(46):801-10
references.pmid: 19828502
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 1981 Oct;46(4):725-43
references.pmid: 7288461