REDUCTION IN SENSORIMOTOR CONTROL WITH AGE

This article reviews declines in motor performance associated with aging. The data are specifically categorized into subsections to facilitate the formation of hypotheses that may be tested by specific intervention and rehabilitation programs. It is no longer acceptable for investigators to think of age-related declines in sensorimotor control as a unitary deficit. Data are reviewed that suggest that the elderly have a reduced capability to use advanced preparatory information, a difficulty in processing stimuli, an inability to regulate movement speed, and an inability to adequately calibrate afferent information. Each of these deficits may be caused by a specific reduction in sensorimotor processing. It is important that future research addresses the loci of the movement slowing and increased movement variability that are so prevalent with aging. With this knowledge, intervention programs may be able to minimize or reverse the effects of aging on motor control more realistically.