Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 25, 2026
05:15
The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
11.3K
Advanced spatial knowledge of target location eliminates age-related differences in early sensorimotor learning
Lavanya Rajeshkumar1, Kevin M Trewartha2,3
1Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA.
Experimental Brain Research
|May 4, 2019
Summary
Older adults show motor learning declines, especially early on. Reducing spatial working memory demands in tasks can eliminate age differences in early motor learning.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Motor Control
Background:
- Motor learning declines with age, impacting early acquisition.
- Working memory is crucial for early motor learning, with deficits linked to age-related declines.
- The precise cognitive mechanisms underlying motor learning remain incompletely understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if reducing spatial working memory load mitigates age-related differences in early motor learning.
- To explore the role of associative memory, spatial working memory, and procedural learning in early motor learning across age groups.
Main Methods:
- Participants (younger and older adults) performed a force-field adaptation task with reaching movements.
- Movement conditions included a repeating sequence versus a random order to manipulate spatial working memory demands.
- Cognitive tests assessed associative memory, spatial working memory, and procedural learning.
Main Results:
- All groups achieved similar adaptation by the end of the task.
- Older adults matched younger adults' learning speed only in the sequence condition; random order slowed their early learning.
- Early motor learning correlated with associative memory across all participants.
- In younger adults, early motor learning also correlated with procedural learning.
Conclusions:
- Age differences in early motor learning are reduced by limiting spatial working memory demands.
- Multiple cognitive resources support early motor learning, with younger adults showing greater flexibility in recruiting them.
- Findings highlight the interplay between cognitive function and motor learning in aging.
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