Detecting Age Differences in Resistance to Perceptual and Motor Interference

Abstract

The authors asked whether different forms of inhibition are altered differently by aging using a Motor and Perceptual Inhibition Test (MAPIT) based on Nassauer and Halperin (Nassauer & Halperin, 2003, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 9, 25–30). Ninety-eight individuals participating in studies of balance and attention were separated into younger (mean age 25 years) and older (mean age 73) participants. Older participants showed less perceptual and motor inhibition than younger participants, with moderation of this effect by gender, that is, motor inhibition appeared to decline more sharply with age in women than in men. The two scores were uncorrelated in the young but significantly correlated in the older group. Overall, the MAPIT appeared to yield reliable measures of two aspects of inhibition that demonstrate a differential impact of age.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of NIH AG10009, AG14116, and AG024827 for the research described and NIH DC05205 and The Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center (PMBC; NIH grants HL076852/076858) for personnel and instrumentation support.

Notes

Note. Data are mean and (standard deviation).

P(C) = percent correct; MI = motor inhibition; PI = perceptual inhibition; PF_C = RT to the congruous items in the perceptual inhibition block relative to control RTs; PI_I = RT to the incongruous items in the perceptual inhibition block relative to control RTs.