Age-related impairments and influence of visual feedback when learning to stand with unexpected sensorimotor delays
BackgroundWhile standing upright, the brain must accurately accommodate for delays between sensory feedback and self-generated motor commands. Natural aging may limit adaptation to sensorimotor delays due to age-related decline in sensory acuity, neuromuscular capacity and cognitive function. This s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1325012/full |
| _version_ | 1827583476871725056 |
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| author | Brandon G. Rasman Brandon G. Rasman Brandon G. Rasman Christian van der Zalm Patrick A. Forbes Patrick A. Forbes |
| author_facet | Brandon G. Rasman Brandon G. Rasman Brandon G. Rasman Christian van der Zalm Patrick A. Forbes Patrick A. Forbes |
| author_sort | Brandon G. Rasman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundWhile standing upright, the brain must accurately accommodate for delays between sensory feedback and self-generated motor commands. Natural aging may limit adaptation to sensorimotor delays due to age-related decline in sensory acuity, neuromuscular capacity and cognitive function. This study examined balance learning in young and older adults as they stood with robot-induced sensorimotor delays.MethodsA cohort of community dwelling young (mean = 23.6 years, N = 20) and older adults (mean = 70.1 years, N = 20) participated in this balance learning study. Participants stood on a robotic balance simulator which was used to artificially impose a 250 ms delay into their control of standing. Young and older adults practiced to balance with the imposed delay either with or without visual feedback (i.e., eyes open or closed), resulting in four training groups. We assessed their balance behavior and performance (i.e., variability in postural sway and ability to maintain upright posture) before, during and after training. We further evaluated whether training benefits gained in one visual condition transferred to the untrained condition.ResultsAll participants, regardless of age or visual training condition, improved their balance performance through training to stand with the imposed delay. Compared to young adults, however, older adults had larger postural oscillations at all stages of the experiments, exhibited less relative learning to balance with the delay and had slower rates of balance improvement. Visual feedback was not required to learn to stand with the imposed delay, but it had a modest effect on the amount of time participants could remain upright. For all groups, balance improvements gained from training in one visual condition transferred to the untrained visual condition.ConclusionOur study reveals that while advanced age partially impairs balance learning, the older nervous system maintains the ability to recalibrate motor control to stand with initially destabilizing sensorimotor delays under differing visual feedback conditions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T23:07:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5eae4efdb89d4243a48ce0898e251813 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1663-4365 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T23:07:22Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-5eae4efdb89d4243a48ce0898e2518132023-12-15T10:55:13ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience1663-43652023-12-011510.3389/fnagi.2023.13250121325012Age-related impairments and influence of visual feedback when learning to stand with unexpected sensorimotor delaysBrandon G. Rasman0Brandon G. Rasman1Brandon G. Rasman2Christian van der Zalm3Patrick A. Forbes4Patrick A. Forbes5Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NetherlandsSchool of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New ZealandDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, NetherlandsDepartment of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NetherlandsDepartment of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NetherlandsDepartment of Biomechanical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, NetherlandsBackgroundWhile standing upright, the brain must accurately accommodate for delays between sensory feedback and self-generated motor commands. Natural aging may limit adaptation to sensorimotor delays due to age-related decline in sensory acuity, neuromuscular capacity and cognitive function. This study examined balance learning in young and older adults as they stood with robot-induced sensorimotor delays.MethodsA cohort of community dwelling young (mean = 23.6 years, N = 20) and older adults (mean = 70.1 years, N = 20) participated in this balance learning study. Participants stood on a robotic balance simulator which was used to artificially impose a 250 ms delay into their control of standing. Young and older adults practiced to balance with the imposed delay either with or without visual feedback (i.e., eyes open or closed), resulting in four training groups. We assessed their balance behavior and performance (i.e., variability in postural sway and ability to maintain upright posture) before, during and after training. We further evaluated whether training benefits gained in one visual condition transferred to the untrained condition.ResultsAll participants, regardless of age or visual training condition, improved their balance performance through training to stand with the imposed delay. Compared to young adults, however, older adults had larger postural oscillations at all stages of the experiments, exhibited less relative learning to balance with the delay and had slower rates of balance improvement. Visual feedback was not required to learn to stand with the imposed delay, but it had a modest effect on the amount of time participants could remain upright. For all groups, balance improvements gained from training in one visual condition transferred to the untrained visual condition.ConclusionOur study reveals that while advanced age partially impairs balance learning, the older nervous system maintains the ability to recalibrate motor control to stand with initially destabilizing sensorimotor delays under differing visual feedback conditions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1325012/fullsensorimotor learningagingsensorimotor delaystanding balanceposturevisual feedback |
| spellingShingle | Brandon G. Rasman Brandon G. Rasman Brandon G. Rasman Christian van der Zalm Patrick A. Forbes Patrick A. Forbes Age-related impairments and influence of visual feedback when learning to stand with unexpected sensorimotor delays Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience sensorimotor learning aging sensorimotor delay standing balance posture visual feedback |
| title | Age-related impairments and influence of visual feedback when learning to stand with unexpected sensorimotor delays |
| title_full | Age-related impairments and influence of visual feedback when learning to stand with unexpected sensorimotor delays |
| title_fullStr | Age-related impairments and influence of visual feedback when learning to stand with unexpected sensorimotor delays |
| title_full_unstemmed | Age-related impairments and influence of visual feedback when learning to stand with unexpected sensorimotor delays |
| title_short | Age-related impairments and influence of visual feedback when learning to stand with unexpected sensorimotor delays |
| title_sort | age related impairments and influence of visual feedback when learning to stand with unexpected sensorimotor delays |
| topic | sensorimotor learning aging sensorimotor delay standing balance posture visual feedback |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1325012/full |
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