Age-Related Reductions in Tactile and Motor Inhibitory Function Start Early but Are Independent

Aging is associated with declines in motor and somatosensory function. Some of these motor declines have been linked to age-related reductions in inhibitory function. Here we examined whether tactile surround inhibition also changes with age and whether these changes are associated with those in the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in aging neuroscience 2019-07, Vol.11, p.193-193
Main Authors: Ruitenberg, Marit F L, Cassady, Kaitlin E, Reuter-Lorenz, Patricia A, Tommerdahl, Mark, Seidler, Rachael D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age differences
Aging
cortical inhibition
Life span
lifespan
motor control
Neuroscience
Older people
somatosentory function
tactile processing
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Young adults
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Aging is associated with declines in motor and somatosensory function. Some of these motor declines have been linked to age-related reductions in inhibitory function. Here we examined whether tactile surround inhibition also changes with age and whether these changes are associated with those in the motor domain. We tested a group of 56 participants spanning a wide age range (18-76 years old), allowing us to examine when age differences emerge across the lifespan. Participants performed tactile and motor tasks that have previously been linked to inter- and intra-hemispheric inhibition in the somatosensory and motor systems. The results showed that aging is associated with reductions in inhibitory function in both the tactile and motor systems starting around 40 years of age; however, age effects in the two systems were not correlated. The independent effects of age on tactile and motor inhibitory function suggest that distinct mechanisms may underlie age-related reductions in inhibition in the somatosensory and motor systems.
ISSN:1663-4365
1663-4365
DOI:10.3389/fnagi.2019.00193