Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Exp Gerontol. 2018 Oct 1;111:45-52. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2018.07.001. Epub 2018 Jul 4.
Evidence from upper-extremity literature suggests that the normal ageing process affects an individual's ability to learn and retain a motor skill, but spares their ability to transfer the skill to the untrained, opposite limb. While this phenomenon has been well-studied in the upper-extremity, evidence in the lower-extremity is limited. Further, it is unclear to what extent age-related differences in motor learning and transfer are dependent on visual feedback of the motor task. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of ageing on motor learning, retention, and interlimb transfer during walking with and without visual feedback. Forty-four subjects (24 young; 20 older adults) were tested on a treadmill over two consecutive days. On day 1, subjects learned a new gait pattern by performing a foot-trajectory tracking task that necessitated greater hip and knee flexion during the swing phase of the gait. On day 2, subjects repeated the task with their training leg to test retention, then with their untrained leg to test interlimb transfer. Trials without visual feedback were also collected on both days. Results indicated that older adults had reduced ability to learn the task, and also exhibited lower retention and inter-limb transfer. However, these differences were dependent on visual feedback as the groups performed similarly when feedback was removed. The findings provide novel evidence indicating that ageing impairs learning, retention, and transfer of motor skills in the lower-extremity during walking, which may have implications for gait therapy after stroke and other geriatric conditions.
上肢文献中的证据表明，正常的衰老过程会影响个体学习和保留运动技能的能力，但不会影响他们将技能转移到未训练的对侧肢体的能力。虽然这种现象在上肢中已经得到了很好的研究，但下肢的证据有限。此外，年龄相关的运动学习和转移差异在多大程度上依赖于运动任务的视觉反馈尚不清楚。因此，本研究的目的是研究在有和没有视觉反馈的情况下行走时，衰老对运动学习、保持和肢体间转移的影响。44 名受试者（24 名年轻人；20 名老年人）在跑步机上连续两天进行测试。在第 1 天，受试者通过执行需要在步态摆动阶段更大的髋关节和膝关节屈曲的足轨迹跟踪任务来学习新的步态模式。在第 2 天，受试者用训练腿重复该任务以测试保持，然后用未训练腿测试肢体间转移。两天都收集了没有视觉反馈的试验。结果表明，老年人学习任务的能力下降，并且保留和肢体间转移的能力也较低。然而，这些差异依赖于视觉反馈，因为当去除反馈时，两组的表现相似。这些发现提供了新的证据，表明衰老会削弱下肢行走时运动技能的学习、保持和转移，这可能对中风和其他老年病况后的步态治疗有影响。
