title: Two hands, one brain, and aging.
abstract: Many activities of daily living require moving both hands in an organized manner in space and time. Therefore, understanding the impact of aging on bimanual coordination is essential for prolonging functional independence and well-being in older adults. Here we investigated the behavioral and neural determinants of bimanual coordination in aging. The studies surveyed in this review reveal that aging is associated with cortical hyper-activity (but also subcortical hypo-activity) during performance of bimanual tasks. In addition to changes in activation in local areas, the interaction between distributed brain areas also exhibits age-related effects, i.e., functional connectivity is increased in the resting brain as well as during task performance. The mechanisms and triggers underlying these functional activation and connectivity changes remain to be investigated. This requires further research investment into the detailed study of interactions between brain structure, function and connectivity. This will also provide the foundation for interventional research programs towards preservation of brain health and behavioral performance by maximizing neuroplasticity potential in older adults.
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Celine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maes
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jolien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gooijers
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Orban de Xivry
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, 3001 Leuven, Belgium; KU Leuven, Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience & Disease (LIND), 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Stephan P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Swinnen
authors.affiliation: KU Leuven, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Group Biomedical Sciences, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: matthieu.boisgontier@kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Matthieu P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Boisgontier
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000375:Aging; D001921:Brain; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011597:Psychomotor Performance
keywords: Bimanual coordination; Brain; Cognition; Humans; Motor control; Motor learning