Sensory Neuroscience Unit, Psychology Department, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YF, United Kingdom.
Psychol Aging. 2011 Mar;26(1):150-61. doi: 10.1037/a0020606.
This study assessed motor limits of regular tapping, timing error detection, and correction in 60 participants aged from 19 to 98 years. Rate limitations on motor production were estimated from the average inter-tap interval when tapping as fast as possible for 30 s. Timing error detection required participants to judge whether a sound sequence presented at a slow, intermediate, or fast speed contained an irregularity because of phase shift. This was performed with or without synchronizing to the sounds. On the basis of the just-detectable positive phase shift (JND), participants synchronized with sequences containing phase shifts that were subliminal, just detectable or supraliminal. On average, JNDs were 9% of the inter-onset interval and by and large were not affected by synchronization tapping. Speed of error correction was estimated from the number of tones to return within 20% of the preshift synchronization error. Consistent with previous findings of motor slowing with aging, the fastest inter-tap interval increased with age. However, there was no age-related decline in JNDs or speed of error correction, both of which reflect predictive abilities for intervals within the motor repertoire of human adults. These results point towards intact timing error processing up to an advanced age. In assessing timing abilities in the brain of older adults, it is important to differentiate between motor slowing and its impact on rhythmic behavior (e.g., walking pace) from anticipatory mechanisms ('what to expect when') and how these are used to adjust the timing of actions ('what to do when').
这项研究评估了 60 名年龄在 19 至 98 岁的参与者的常规敲击、定时误差检测和校正的运动限制。通过在 30 秒内尽可能快地敲击时的平均敲击间隔来估计运动产生的速度限制。定时误差检测要求参与者判断以较慢、中等或较快速度呈现的声音序列是否因相位偏移而不规则。这是在与声音同步或不同步的情况下进行的。基于可检测到的正相位偏移（JND），参与者与包含相位偏移的序列同步，这些相位偏移是潜意识的、刚刚可检测到的或超阈的。平均而言，JND 占音序间隔的 9%，并且在很大程度上不受同步敲击的影响。通过返回同步误差的 20%以内的音调数量来估计错误校正的速度。与随年龄增长而导致运动速度减慢的先前发现一致，最快的敲击间隔随年龄增长而增加。然而，JND 或错误校正速度没有与年龄相关的下降，这两者都反映了对人类成年人运动范围内的间隔的预测能力。这些结果表明，直到老年，定时错误处理仍然完好无损。在评估老年人大脑的定时能力时，重要的是要区分运动速度减慢及其对节奏行为（例如，步行速度）的影响，与预期机制（“预期何时”）以及如何使用这些机制来调整动作的定时（“何时做”）。
