Authors
Rachel O Coats, Andrew D Wilson, Winona Snapp-Childs, Aaron J Fath, Geoffrey P Bingham
Publication date
2014/1/24
Journal
PLoS One
Volume
9
Issue
1
Pages
e85758
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Description
We recently found that older adults show reduced learning rates when learning a new pattern of coordinated rhythmic movement. The purpose of this study was to extend that finding by examining the performance of all ages across the lifespan from the 20 s through to the 80 s to determine how learning rates change with age. We tested whether adults could learn to produce a novel coordinated rhythmic movement (90° relative phase) in a visually guided unimanual task. We determined learning rates to quantify changes in learning with age and to determine at what ages the changes occur. We found, as before, that learning rates of participants in their 70 s and 80 s were half those of participants in their 20 s. We also found a gradual slow decline in learning rate with age until approximately age 50, when there was a sudden drop to a reduced learning rate for the 60 though 80 year olds. We discuss possible causes for the “50 s cliff” in perceptuo-motor learning rates and suggest that age related deficits in perception of complex motions may be the key to understanding this result.
Total citations
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Scholar articles
R Coats, A Wilson, W Snapp-Childs, A Fath… - Journal of Vision, 2013