Older adults' double-step reaching is associated with motor imagery: A mouse-tracking task

Age-related declines in motor control are well-documented. However, mixed findings are reported on the age-related changes in the ability to rapidly adjust ongoing movements in response to target perturbations. When age-related differences are observed, they are often attributed to a general age-related slowing rather than a specific decline in online correction. The lack of age-related differences is often speculated to result from compensatory strategies or preserved neurocomputational processes for online correction in older adults. This study was to (a) investigate whether there are age-related changes specific to online motor control and (b) explore the association between online motor control and motor imagery ability in older adults, as both processes rely on forward modeling to predict movement outcomes. Fifty-six young and 29 older participants completed a computer-based double-step reaching task. We found that older adults exhibited longer correction latencies, more rigid corrective movements, and reduced endpoint accuracy compared with younger adults. Notably, the prolonged correction times could not be fully explained by general age-related slowing in information processing. While older adults could use a speed-accuracy trade-off to enhance single-step reaching accuracy, this strategy was insufficient for double-step reaching, indicating age-related challenges in online motor correction. Moreover, older adults' online correction and double-step reaching accuracy were linked to their motor imagery ability, suggesting a reliance on forward modeling. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).