Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4243, USA.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2011 Sep-Oct;53(2):206-9. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2010.10.006. Epub 2010 Oct 28.
Motor programming theory suggests that an integral component in an effective outcome is an adequate action (mental) representation of the movements; a representation reflected in the ability to use motor imagery. Recent reports show a decline with advanced age (>64 years) using a variety of motor simulation tasks. Here, we examined the possible effects of advanced age on motor imagery ability in the context of estimation of reachability--that is, estimating whether an object is within reach or out of grasp. Thirty young adults (mean age: 20) and 23 older adults (mean age: 77) were instructed to estimate, using motor imagery, whether randomly presented targets in peripersonal (within actual reach) and extrapersonal (beyond reach) space were within or out of reach of their dominant limb while seated. Results indicated that the younger group was significantly more accurate than the older adults, p < 0.001. Whereas both groups made more errors in extrapersonal space, the values were significantly higher for the older group; that is, they overestimated to a greater extent. In summary, these findings add to the general notion that there is a decline in the ability to mentally represent action with advanced age.
运动程序理论表明，有效的结果的一个重要组成部分是对运动的充分动作（心理）表现；这种表现反映在使用运动意象的能力上。最近的报告显示，在各种运动模拟任务中，年龄较大（>64 岁）的人能力下降。在这里，我们在可触及性的估计背景下，即估计物体是否在可触及或抓握范围之内，检查了年龄增长对运动意象能力的可能影响。30 名年轻成年人（平均年龄：20 岁）和 23 名年龄较大的成年人（平均年龄：77 岁）被要求在坐着时使用运动意象来估计在近体空间（在实际可触及范围内）和体外空间（超出可触及范围）中随机呈现的目标是否在他们的优势肢体的可触及范围内或超出可触及范围。结果表明，年轻组明显比年长组更准确，p<0.001。尽管两个组在体外空间都犯了更多的错误，但年长组的值明显更高；也就是说，他们高估的程度更大。总之，这些发现增加了一个普遍的观点，即随着年龄的增长，人们在心理上表现动作的能力会下降。
