Effects of age and gender on discrete and reciprocal aiming movements

Using a cross-sectional design, this study determined the time course of aging effects on rapid discrete and reciprocal aiming movements in men and women. A total of 80 men and 61 women in good health were classified into six age groups (25, 35, 45, 55, 65, and 75 years). The discrete task required participants to make one discrete aiming movement, whereas the reciprocal task required a series of back-and-forth movements. Results indicated for both aiming tasks that greater age was strongly associated with slower movement times. The significant interaction between age and task indicated that the discrete task showed much larger aging effects (54%) than the reciprocal task (25%). This finding is tentatively interpreted in terms of a reduced efficiency of "on-line" control processes. (APA PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved

Aerobic capacity and cognitive performance in a cross-sectional aging study

In a population unselected for aerobic fitness status, aerobic fitness(˙VO2max) and its interaction with age were used to predict performance on several cognitive measures known to be affected by chronological age. It was hypothesized that, in particular, cognitively demanding tasks would be sensitive to aerobic capacity. Healthy subjects between 24 and 76 yr of age (N = 132) were recruited from a larger study into determinants of cognitive aging (Maastricht Aging Study-MAAS). All participants took part in a submaximal bicycle ergometer protocol and an extensive neurocognitive examination, including tests of intelligence, verbal memory, and simple and complex cognitive speed. Participants engaged more hours a week in aerobic sports and felt healthier than the nonparticipants of the same age did. No group differences were found in the basic anthropometric characteristics height, weight, and BMI. Two of four subtasks that reflect complex cognitive speed (Stroop color/word interference and Concept Shifting Test) showed main and interaction effects with age of aerobic capacity in a hierarchical regression analysis, accounting for up to 5% of variance in parameter score after correction for age, sex, and intelligence main effects. These findings fit well within a moderator model of aerobic fitness in cognitive aging. They add to the notion that aerobic fitness may selectively and age-dependently act on cognitive processes, in particular those that require relatively large attentional resources