Aging Affects the Mental Rotation of Left and Right Hands

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 4; no. 8; p. e6714
• Main Authors: Saimpont, Arnaud, Pozzo, Thierry, Papaxanthis, Charalambos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 26.08.2009; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Age differences; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Aging - physiology; Archives & records; Arm; Biomechanics; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive tasks; Emulation; Female; Functional Laterality; Geriatrics; Handedness; Humans; Imagery; Kinematics; Male; Memory; Mental task performance; Motor task performance; Neuroscience/Cognitive Neuroscience; Neuroscience/Experimental Psychology; Neuroscience/Motor Systems; Older people; Psychology; Simulation; Stroke; Studies; Young adults; France
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006714

Normal aging significantly influences motor and cognitive performance. Little is known about age-related changes in action simulation. Here, we investigated the influence of aging on implicit motor imagery. Twenty young (mean age: 23.9+/-2.8 years) and nineteen elderly (mean age: 78.3+/-4.5 years) subjects, all right-handed, were required to determine the laterality of hands presented in various positions. To do so, they mentally rotated their hands to match them with the hand-stimuli. We showed that: (1) elderly subjects were affected in their ability to implicitly simulate movements of the upper limbs, especially those requiring the largest amplitude of displacement and/or with strong biomechanical constraints; (2) this decline was greater for movements of the non-dominant arm than of the dominant arm. These results extend recent findings showing age-related alterations of the explicit side of motor imagery. They suggest that a general decline in action simulation occurs with normal aging, in particular for the non-dominant side of the body.