ArticleFrontiers in aging neuroscience2021
Neural Correlates of Motor Skill Learning Are Dependent on Both Age and Task Difficulty.
Article in Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Oscillatory dynamics of motor learning across adulthood life span: a systematic review.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Neural Correlates of Balance Skill Learning in Young and Older Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine - open · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of sensorimotor mismatch on virtual reality sickness and user experience: age-related differences in a randomized trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2025Trial
- Mapping the complexity of psychomotor skills in core nursing procedures: A content analysis for simulation-based education.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026Article
- Bifocal tACS over the primary sensorimotor cortices increases interhemispheric inhibition and improves bimanual dexterity.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2025Article
- Characteristics of Systematic Errors in the Two-step Test for Assessing Locomotive Syndrome among Young and Older Adults.Progress in rehabilitation medicine · 2025Article
- Alpha band oscillations in common synaptic input are explanatory of the complexity of isometric knee extensor muscle torque signals.Experimental physiology · 2024Article
- Age-related neural changes underlying long-term recognition of musical sequences.Communications biology · 2024Article
- NR1 Splicing Variant NR1a in Cerebellar Granule Neurons Constitutes a Better Motor Learning in the Mouse.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2024Article
- Motor learning and performance in schizophrenia and aging: two different patterns of decline.Experimental brain research · 2024Article
- Age-Related Differences in Motor Skill Transfer with Brief Memory Reactivation.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Older and younger adults differ in time course of skill acquisition but not in overall improvement in a bimanual visuomotor tracking task.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2024Article
- Evaluating the Abnormality of Bilateral Motor Cortex Activity in Subacute Stroke Patients Executing a Unimanual Motor Task With Increasing Demand on Precision.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Although a general age-related decline in neural plasticity is evident, the effects of age on neural plasticity after motor practice are inconclusive. Inconsistencies in the literature may be related to between-study differences in task difficulty. Therefore, we aimed to determine the effects of age and task difficulty on motor learning and associated brain activity. We used task-related electroencephalography (EEG) power in the alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-30 Hz) frequency bands to assess neural plasticity before, immediately after, and 24-h after practice of a mirror star tracing task at one of three difficulty levels in healthy younger (19-24 yr) and older (65-86 yr) adults. Results showed an age-related deterioration in motor performance that was more pronounced with increasing task difficulty and was accompanied by a more bilateral activity pattern for older vs. younger adults. Task difficulty affected motor skill retention and neural plasticity specifically in older adults. Older adults that practiced at the low or medium, but not the high, difficulty levels were able to maintain improvements in accuracy at retention and showed modulation of alpha TR-Power after practice. Together, these data indicate that both age and task difficulty affect motor learning, as well as the associated neural plasticity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.