title: Visuomotor adaptability in older adults with mild cognitive decline.
abstract: The current study examined the augmentation of error feedback on visuomotor adaptability in older adults with varying degrees of cognitive decline (assessed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment; MoCA). Twenty-three participants performed a center-out computerized visuomotor adaptation task when the visual feedback of their hand movement error was presented in a regular (ratio=1:1) or enhanced (ratio=1:2) error feedback schedule. Results showed that older adults with lower scores on the MoCA had less adaptability than those with higher MoCA scores during the regular feedback schedule. However, participants demonstrated similar adaptability during the enhanced feedback schedule, regardless of their cognitive ability. Furthermore, individuals with lower MoCA scores showed larger after-effects in spatial control during the enhanced schedule compared to the regular schedule, whereas individuals with higher MoCA scores displayed the opposite pattern. Additional neuro-cognitive assessments revealed that spatial working memory and processing speed were positively related to motor adaptability during the regular scheduled but negatively related to adaptability during the enhanced schedule. We argue that individuals with mild cognitive decline employed different adaptation strategies when encountering enhanced visual feedback, suggesting older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may benefit from enhanced visual error feedback during sensorimotor adaptation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, United States; Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, United States.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schaffert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, United States; Division of Clinical Behavioral Neuroscience, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States.
authors.forename: Chi-Mei
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, United States; School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, United States.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Neill
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, United States; School of Physical Education, Central China Normal University, Wu Han, PR China; Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States. Electronic address: jbo@emich.edu.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bo
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000368:Aged; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000503:physiopathology*; D030141:Feedback, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI); MoCA; Motor learning; Visuomotor adaptation