title: Cortical grey matter content is associated with both age and bimanual performance, but is not observed to mediate age-related behavioural decline.
abstract: Declines in both cortical grey matter and bimanual coordination performance are evident in healthy ageing. However, the relationship between ageing, bimanual performance, and grey matter loss remains unclear, particularly across the whole adult lifespan. Therefore, participants (N = 93, range 20-80 years) performed a complex Bimanual Tracking Task, and structural brain images were obtained using magnetic resonance imaging. Analyses revealed that age correlated negatively with task performance. Voxel-based morphometry analysis revealed that age was associated with grey matter declines in task-relevant cortical areas and that grey matter in these areas was negatively associated with task performance. However, no evidence for a mediating effect of grey matter in age-related bimanual performance decline was observed. We propose a new hypothesis that functional compensation may account for the observed absence of mediation, which is in line with the observed pattern of increased inter-individual variance in performance with age.
authors.affiliation: Motor Control Laboratory, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium. peter.vanruitenbeek@faber.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van Ruitenbeek
authors.affiliation: Motor Control Laboratory, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: Leen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Serbruyns
authors.affiliation: Motor Control Laboratory, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Solesio-Jofre
authors.affiliation: Motor Control Laboratory, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium.|Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, REVAL Rehabilitation Research Centre, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
authors.forename: Raf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Meesen
authors.affiliation: Motor Control Laboratory, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium.|Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, REVAL Rehabilitation Research Centre, Biomedical Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cuypers
authors.affiliation: Motor Control Laboratory, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Tervuursevest 101, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium.|Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Stephan P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Swinnen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ageing; Bimanual coordination; Mediation; Sensorimotor network; Voxel-based morphometry