Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lazar-Kurz, Zoë
• Aziz, Jasmine
• McKearney, Katelyn J.
• Hamon-Hill, Cindy
• MacDonald, Arthur
• Newman, Aaron
• Eskes, Gail

Titel

Age-related changes to electroencephalographic markers of visuomotor error processing and learning in prism adaptation

Ist Teil von

• Neuropsychologia, 2023-06, Vol.184, p.108546-108546, Article 108546

Ort / Verlag

England: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Aging is associated with changes in cognitive function, including declines in learning, memory, and executive function. Prism adaptation (PA) is a useful paradigm to measure changes in explicit and implicit mechanisms of visuo-motor learning with age, but the neural correlates are not well understood. In the present study, we used PA to investigate visuo-motor learning and error processing in older adults. Twenty older adults (56–85 yrs) and 20 younger adults (18–33 yrs) underwent a goal-oriented reaching task while wearing prism goggles as continuous EEG was recorded to examine neural correlates of error detection. We examined behavioural measures of PA, as well as ERP components previously found associated with the early and late phases of adaptation to visual distortion caused by the prism goggles. Our results indicate important age-related behavioural and neurophysiological differences. Older adults reached more slowly than younger adults but showed the same accuracy throughout the prism exposure. Older adults also displayed larger aftereffects, indicating preserved visuomotor adaptation. EEG results indicated similar initial error processing in older and younger adults, as measured by the feedback error related negativity (FRN). As seen previously in young adults, the P3a and P3b declined over the prism exposure phase in both groups. Older adults displayed reduced P3a amplitude compared to the younger group in the early phase of adaptation, however, suggesting reduced attentional orienting. Finally, the older group exhibited a greater P3b amplitude compared to the younger group in the later phases of adaptation, potentially a marker of enhanced context updating underlying spatial realignment, leading to their larger aftereffect. Implications for age-related learning differences and clinical applications are discussed. •Age effects on visuomotor adaptation were measured with ERPs.•Older adults showed preserved adaptation learning and enhanced aftereffects.•Older adults showed preserved error awareness as reflected by the FRN.•Older adults showed enhanced context updating as reflected by P3b amplitude.•Neural processes underlying visuomotor learning appear preserved in aging.