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Age-related accelerated tapping response in healthy population
Anat Scheiman Elazary1, Revital Attia, Hagai Bergman
1Department of Physiology, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel. anatscheiman@yahoo.com
Perceptual and Motor Skills
|April 23, 2003
Summary
Healthy elderly individuals exhibit accelerated tapping, a distinct motor response from the "hastening phenomenon" observed in Parkinson's disease. This finding suggests accelerated tapping is a normal aspect of aging.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
- Motor Control
Background:
- The finger-tapping test reveals various rapid motor responses.
- The
- hastening phenomenon
- is an abnormal motor response in Parkinson's disease.
- Accelerated tapping has been observed in healthy elderly individuals, but its relation to normal aging versus Parkinson's disease is unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether accelerated tapping in healthy elderly subjects is related to the
- hastening phenomenon
- or represents normal aging.
- To differentiate age-related motor changes from pathological motor responses.
Main Methods:
- Twenty healthy young and 21 healthy elderly subjects participated.
- Subjects performed a finger-tapping test with required response frequencies ranging from 1 to 6 Hz.
Main Results:
- The healthy elderly sample demonstrated increased accelerated tapping.
- No significant increase in the
- hastening phenomenon
- was observed in the elderly group compared to the young group.
Conclusions:
- Accelerated tapping appears to be an age-related motor process in healthy individuals.
- Accelerated tapping is distinct from the
- hastening phenomenon
- associated with Parkinson's disease.