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Age-Related Kinematic Differences as Influenced by Task Difficulty, Target Size, and Movement Amplitude

^a Motor Control Laboratory, Arizona State University, Tempe
^b Department of Neuroscience and Brain Sciences Center, University of Minnesota, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minneapolis

George E. Stelmach, Motor Control Laboratory, P.O. Box 870404, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0404 E-mail: stelmach{at}asu.edu.

Decision Editor: Margie E. Lachman, PhD

Fifteen older adults (M = 68 years old) and 15 young adults (M = 23 years old) participated in a speed–accuracy task in which aiming movements were performed on a digitizing tablet to assess movement slowing and variability in older adults. Target-size and movement amplitude influences were analyzed separately to determine if they affected the performance of the young and older adults differently. When target size was increased, older adults did not increase the relative distance traveled in the primary submovement. When movement amplitude was increased, older adults did not scale movement velocities to the same magnitude as young adults did. Both the inability to scale velocity and the inability to increase the relative distance traveled in the primary submovement contribute to slower, more variable movements observed in older adults depending on task parameters. Thus, these data reveal that manipulation of target size and movement amplitude yield two distinct factors that contribute to slowness of movement in older adults.