Motor control changes as people grow older

Research overview

As people grow older, they experience a decline in something neuroscientists call ‘response inhibition’. This literally means difficulties in inhibiting, stopping or interrupting a course of action that has already been started. For example, imagine a person who has the goal to cross the road and is focused on pursuing this goal. If an errant cyclist suddenly veered into their path, they need to rapidly change their goal and stop walking. Failure to do so might incur serious risk of injury. Changes in response inhibition are an important reason why otherwise-healthy older people may lose independence.

Our project investigates why changes in response inhibition occur. Neuroscientists believe that as people grow older their brain naturally becomes less effective at connecting pathways to the part of the brain that stops actions, resulting in declined response inhibition. However, the scientific evidence is not yet sufficient to be sure that this is the case. Our group has developed a way to investigate this. Using neuroscientific techniques such as non-invasive brain stimulation and electroencephalography, we will measure if improving the efficacy of the connections in the brain changes people’s ability to inhibit actions when required to do so.

Improved understanding of the effects of ageing on inhibition will allow us to mitigate this aspect of ageing. I hope to be able to identify people at risk of losing response inhibition and develop interventions with non-invasive brain stimulation to alleviate age related decline. This in turn will enhance continued functionality and safety among seniors.

Funding

This project benefits from an award from the Academy of Medical Sciences 2023-2025.