Ruitenberg Marit F L, Cassady Kaitlin E, Reuter-Lorenz Patricia A, Tommerdahl Mark, Seidler Rachael D
Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2019 Jul 30;11:193. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2019.00193. eCollection 2019.
Aging is associated with declines in motor and somatosensory function. Some of these motor declines have been linked to age-related reductions in inhibitory function. Here we examined whether tactile surround inhibition also changes with age and whether these changes are associated with those in the motor domain. We tested a group of 56 participants spanning a wide age range (18-76 years old), allowing us to examine when age differences emerge across the lifespan. Participants performed tactile and motor tasks that have previously been linked to inter- and intra-hemispheric inhibition in the somatosensory and motor systems. The results showed that aging is associated with reductions in inhibitory function in both the tactile and motor systems starting around 40 years of age; however, age effects in the two systems were not correlated. The independent effects of age on tactile and motor inhibitory function suggest that distinct mechanisms may underlie age-related reductions in inhibition in the somatosensory and motor systems.
衰老与运动和体感功能的衰退有关。其中一些运动功能衰退与年龄相关的抑制功能下降有关。在这里，我们研究了触觉外周抑制是否也随年龄变化，以及这些变化是否与运动领域的变化相关。我们测试了一组年龄跨度较大（18 - 76岁）的56名参与者，使我们能够研究在整个生命周期中年龄差异何时出现。参与者执行了先前与体感和运动系统中半球间和半球内抑制相关的触觉和运动任务。结果表明，衰老与大约40岁开始的触觉和运动系统抑制功能下降有关；然而，两个系统中的年龄效应并不相关。年龄对触觉和运动抑制功能的独立影响表明，体感和运动系统中与年龄相关的抑制功能下降可能有不同的机制。
