Motor-skill learning in older adults—a review of studies on age-related differences

Claudia Voelcker‐Rehage1
1Jacobs Center on Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development, Jacobs University Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Tóm tắt

Abstract This paper reviews research on motor-skill learning across the life span with particular emphasis on older age. For this purpose, studies that focus on age-related differences in fine and gross motor skills and studies that analyze the further refinement of known skills as well as learning of unknown motor skills are summarized. The reviewed studies suggest that although motor performance tends to decline in old age, learning capabilities remain intact, and older adults are able to achieve considerable performance gains. The extent to which the learning capability varies with age, however, has to be considered very carefully. While most studies revealed that performance gains in fine motor tasks are diminished in older adults, results for gross-motor-skill learning are more contradictory. Additionally, there is considerable agreement on the finding that age-related learning differences are statistically more robust in complex tasks, whereas in low-complexity tasks, the learning of younger and older adults is very similar. This applies to fine and gross motor skills. Relative age differences seem to become enlarged when effortful resources are required for motor performance. Thus, the decline in motor learning that accompanies aging is task specific and not absolute.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Adams JA (1987) Historical review and appraisal of research on the learning, retention, and transfer of human motor skills. Psychol Bull 10:41–74

Anshel MH (1978) Effect of aging on acquisition and short-term retention of a motor skill. Percept Mot Skills 47:993–994

Baltes PB (1987) Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline. Dev Psychol 23:611–626

Baltes PB, Kliegl R (1992) Further testing of limits of cognitive plasticity: negative age differences in a mnemonic skill are robust. Dev Psychol 28:121–125

Baltes PB, Lindenberger U (1997) Emergence of a powerful connection between sensory and cognitive functions across the adult life span: a new window to the study of cognitive aging. Psychol Aging 12:12–21

Baltes PB, Lindenberger U, Staudinger UM (1998) Life-span theory in developmental psychology. In: Lerner RM (ed) Handbook of child development. Theoretical models of human development. Wiley, New York 1029–1143

Breitenstein C, Daum I, Schugens MM (1996) Altersunterschiede beim motorischen Lernen [Age differences in motor learning]. Z Gerontopsychol Psychiatr 1:33–41

Burton AW, Miller DE (1998) Movement skill assessment. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, USA

Cabeza R (2001) Functional neuroimaging of cognitive aging. In: Cabeza R, Kingstone A (eds) Handbook of functional neuroimaging of cognition. MIT Press, Cambridge, MS, USA, pp 331–377

Cabeza R (2002) Hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults: The HAROLD model. Psychol Aging 17:85–100

Cabeza R, Daselaar SM, Dolcos F, Prince SE, Budde M, Nyberg L (2004) Task-independent and task-specific age effects on brain activity during working memory, visual attention and episodic retrieval. Cereb Cortex 14:364–375

Carnahan H, Vandervoort AA, Swanson LR (1993) The influence of aging on motor skill learning. In: Stelmach GE, Hömberg V (eds) Sensorimotor impairment in the elderly. Kluwer, Netherlands, pp 41–56

Carnahan H, Vandervoort AA, Swanson LR (1996) The influence of summary knowledge of results and aging on motor learning. Res Q Exerc Sport 67:280–287

Clark JE, Whitall J (1989) What is motor development: The lessons of history. Quest 41:183–202

Cratty BJ (1964) Movement behavior and motor learning. Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia

Davis WE, Burton AW (1991) Ecological task analysis: Translating movement behavior theory into practice. Adapted Phys Act Q 8:154–177

Durkin M, Prescott L, Furchtgott E, Cantor J, Powell DA (1995) Performance but not acquisition of skill learning is severely impaired in the elderly. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 20:167–183

Gabell A, Nayak USL (1984) The effect of age on variability in gait. J Gerontol 39:662–666

Gallahue DL, Ozmun JC (2002) Understanding motor development. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA

Gershon EJ (1978) A study of age and sex differences in the acquisition of a complex motor skill. Rev Educ Phys 18:362–372

Grady CL (2000) Functional brain imaging and age-related changes in cognition. Biol Psychol 54:259–281

Haywood KM, Getchell N (2001) Life span motor development, 3rd edn. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, USA

Head D, Raz N, Gunning-Dixon F, Williamson A, Acker JD (2002) Age-related differences in the course of cognitive skill acquisition: the role of regional cortical shrinkage and cognitive resources. Psychol Aging 17:72–84

Hedel HJA, Dietz V (2004) The influence of age on learning a locomotor task. Clin Neurophysiol 115:2134–2143

Kelly AMC, Garavan H (2005) Human funtional neuroimaging of brain changes associated with practice. Cereb Cortex 15:1089–1102

Ketcham CJ, Seidler RD, Van Gemmert AWA, Stelmach GE (2002) Age-related kinematic differences as influenced by task difficulty, target size, and movement applitude. J Gerontology, Psychol Sci 57B:P54–P64

Ketcham CJ, Stelmach GE (2001) Age-related declines in motor control. In: Birren JE, Schaie KW (eds) Handbook of the psychology of aging. Academic, San Diego, CA, USA, pp 313–348

Kirchner G, Schaller HJ (1996) Motorisches Lernen im Alter: Grundlagen und Anwendungsperspektiven [Motor learning in older adults: Foundation and perspectives]. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen, Germany

Li SC, Lindenberger U, Hommel B, Aschersleben G, Prinz W, Baltes PB (2004) Transformations in the couplings among intellectual abilities and constituent cognitive processes across the lifespan. Psychol Sci 15:155–163

Liao M-J, Jagacinski RJ, Greenberg N (1997) Quantifying the performance limitations of older and younger adults in a target acquisition task. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 23:1644–1664

Light KE, Spirduso WW (1990) Effects of adult aging on the movement complexity factor of response programming. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci 45B:P107–P109

Magill RA (1993) Motor learning: Concepts and applications, 4th edn. Brown & Benchmark, Dubuque, IA, USA

Magill RA (2004) Motor learning and control, 7th edn. Mc Graw Hill, New York

Milton JG, Small SS, Solodkin A (2004) On the road to automatic: dynamic aspects in the development of expertise. J Clin Neurophysiol 21:134–143

Newell KM (1986) Constraints on the development of coordination. In: Wade MG, Whiting HTA (eds) Motor development in children: Aspects of coordination and control. Martin Nijhoff, Amsterdam, pp 341–361

Nyberg L, Sandblom J, Jones S, Neely AS, Petersson KM, Ingvar M, Bäckman L (2003) Neural correlates of training-related memory improvement in adulthood and aging. Proc Natl Acad Sci 100:13728–13733

Perrot A, Bertsch J (2007) Role of age in relation between two kinds of abilities and performance acquisition of new motor skill. Percept Mot Skills 104:91–101

Poulton EC (1957) On prediction in skilled movement. Psychol Bull 54:467–478

Pratt J, Chasteen AL, Abrams RA (1994) Rapid aimed limb movements: age differences and practice effects in component submovements. Psychol Aging 9:325–334

Rabbitt P (1997) Ageing and human skill: a 40th anniversary. Ergonomics 40:962–981

Raz N (2000) Aging of the brain and its impact on cognitive performance: integration of structural and functional findings. In: Craik FIM, Salthouse TA (eds) The handbook of aging and cognition. Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, USA, pp 1–90

Rodrigue KM, Kennedy KM, Raz N (2005) Aging and longitudinal change in perceptual-motor skill acquisition in healthy adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci 60B:P174–P181

Salthouse TA (1985) Speed of behavior and its implications for cognition. In: Birren JE, Schaie KW (eds) Handbook of the psychology of aging. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, pp 400–426

Salthouse TA (1985) A theory of cognitive aging. North-Holland, Amsterdam

Salthouse TA (2004) What and when of cognitive aging. Am Psychol Soc 13:140–144

Schmidt RA (1975) Motor skills. Harper and Row, New York

Schmidt RA, Lee TD (1999) Motor control and learning, 3rd edn. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, USA

Seidler RD (2006) Differential effects of age on sequence learning and sensorimotor adaptation. Brain Res Bull 70:337–346

Shea CH, Park J-H, Braden HW (2006) Age-related effects in sequential motor learning. Phys Ther 86:478–488

Shumway-Cook A, Woollacott M (2000) Attentional demands and postural control: the effect of sensory context. J Gerontol A Med Sci 55A:M10–M16

Singer T, Lindenberger U, Baltes PB (2003) Plasticity of memory for new learning in very old age: a story of major loss. Psychol Aging 18:306–317

Smith CD, Walton A, Loveland AD, Umberger GH, Kryscio RJ, Gash DM (2005) Memories that last in old age: motor skill learning and memory preservation. Neurobiol Aging 26:883–890

Smith KU, Smith WH (1962) Perception and motion. Saunders, Philadelphia

Spirduso WW, Francis KL, MacRae PG (2005) Physical dimensions of aging. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, USA

Spirduso WW, Smith A, Choi JH (1993) Age and practice effects on force control of the thumb and index finger in precision pinching and bilateral coordination. In: Stelmach GE, Hömberg V (eds) Sensorimotor impairment in the elderly. Kluwer, Netherlands, pp 393–412

Sudgen D, Keogh J (1990) Problems in movement skill development. University of South Caroliner Press, Columbia

Swanson LR, Lee TD (1992) Effects of aging and schedules of knowledge of results on motor learning. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci 47B:P406–411

Swinnen SP, Verschueren SMP, Bogaerts H, Dounskaia N, Lee TD, Stelmach GE, Serrien DJ (1998) Age-related deficits in motor learning and differences in feedback processing during the production of a bimanual coordination pattern. Cogn Neuropsychol 15:439–466

Tunney N, Taylor LF, Gaddy M, Rosenfeld A, OPearce N, Tamanini J, Treby A (2003) Aging and motor learning of a functional motor task. Phys Occup Ther Geriatr 21:1–16

van Dijk H, Mulder T, Hermens HJ (2007) Effects of age and content of augmented feedback on learning an isometric force-production task. Exp Aging Res 33:341–353

Verhaeghen P, Marcoen A (1996) On the mechanism of plasticity in young and older adults after instruction in the method of loci: Evidence for an amplification model. Psychol Aging 11:164–178

Verhaeghen P, Marcoen A, Goossens L (1992) Improving memory performance in the aged through mnemonic training: a meta-analytic study. Psychol Aging 7:242–251

Voelcker C, Wiertz O, Willimczik K (1999) Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer Re-Interpretation von Untersuchungen zum motorischen Lernen [Lifespan motor development—a re-interpretation of investigations on motor learning]. Psychol Sport 6:90–101

Voelcker-Rehage C, Alberts JL (2005) Age-related changes in grasping force modulation. Exp Brain Res 166:61–70

Voelcker-Rehage C, Willimczik K (2006) Motor plasticity in a juggling task in older adults—a developmental study. Age Ageing 35:422–427

Willimczik K, Conzelmann A (1999) Motorische Entwicklung in der Lebensspanne—Kernannahmen und Leitorientierungen [Motor development through the life span—main assumptions and guidelines]. Psychol Sport 6:60–70

Willimczik K, Voelcker-Rehage C, Wiertz O (2006) Sportmotorische Entwicklung über die Lebensspanne—Empirische Befunde zu einem theoretischen Konzept (Motor development across the lifespan—empirical results of a theoretical concept). Z Sportpsychol 13:10–22

Wishart LR, Lee TD (1997) Effects of aging and reduced relative frequency of knowledge of results on learning a motor skill. Percept Mot Skills 84:1107–1122

Wishart LR, Lee TD, Cunningham SJ, Murdoch JE (2002) Age-related differences and the role of augmented visual feedback in learning a bimanual coordination pattern. Acta Psychol 110:247–263

Wulf G, Shea CH (2002) Principles derived from the study of simple skills do not generalize to complex skill learning. Psychol Bull Rev 9:185–211