Kevin Trewartha Ph.D.
Assistant Professor at MTU
Age Differences in Motor Learning: What Can We Learn from Neurophysiological Evidence?:
Friday, October 15th | West Science 2906 | 3:00 PM
Zoom link: https://nmu.zoom.us/j/92236957480?pwd=TG81MFUvNWphK2Robyt0b3lpa1V5Zz09
A gold standard approach for studying motor learning is to use sensorimotor adaptation tasks that require participants to adapt their movements to unusual physical or visuomotor perturbations. Motor learning progresses on multiple timescales with initial rapid improvements in performance, followed by more gradual improvements through repeated practice. A growing body of research suggests that aging impacts early learning more than late learning. In this talk I will review data on the cognitive underpinnings of this age-related change in motor learning and then discuss a recent EEG study we conducted to assess the neurophysiological correlates of motor learning in younger and older adults. I will end with a discussion of current and future directions of research on motor learning in healthy and clinical older adult populations.
