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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 19, 2026

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing

Published on: October 25, 2019

Motor imagery: effects of age, task complexity, and task setting.

Michael Kalicinski¹, Matthias Kempe, Otmar Bock

¹a Institute of Psychology, German Sport University Cologne , Cologne , Germany.

Experimental Aging Research

|December 16, 2014

Summary

Motor imagery (MI) in older adults is less affected in real-life scenarios than previously thought. Mental training for the elderly should consider task complexity and setting for better outcomes.

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Area of Science:

Gerontology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Motor Control

Background:

Mental training may enhance motor skills and self-efficacy in older adults.
Previous studies indicated age-related decline in motor imagery (MI), suggesting potential challenges for mental training in the elderly.
Laboratory findings on MI may not accurately reflect real-world performance in older adults.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate motor imagery (MI) performance in older adults using a realistic, everyday-like approach.
To compare MI performance between older and younger adults in simulated real-life tasks.
To assess the impact of task complexity on age-related differences in MI.

Main Methods:

Compared MI performance in 21 older (mean age 70.3 years) and 19 younger adults (mean age 24.9 years) using mental chronometry.
Participants imagined walking in a supermarket: straight ahead (Task A), with two turns (Task B), or with turns and product retrieval (Task C).
Assessed MI ability using the Controllability of Motor Imagery (CMI) test, involving mental posture sequences.

Main Results:

Age-related differences in MI for walking tasks (B and C) were primarily observed in intersubject variability, not mean performance.
This contrasts with prior studies using less realistic settings, which reported age-related decay in mean MI performance.
Age-related alterations in CMI were found but showed limited correlation with walking MI performance.

Conclusions:

Motor imagery (MI) is not a uniform cognitive function; its age-related decline varies across temporal and spatial domains.
MI performance is less affected by age in complex, everyday-like tasks compared to simple or laboratory-based tasks.
Findings emphasize the need to consider task specifics and real-world relevance when assessing MI decline and designing mental training for older adults.