While it is generally acknowledged that the speed of most motor actions substantially decrease with advanced age, the predominance of the research on aging has primarily addressed cognitive processes, and for the most part, neglected fundamental motor operations. This research, while examining some cognitive-motor processes, breaks with tradition and systematically examines motor parameterization processes in the older adult. By functionally breaking down motor programming, execution and reprogramming operations across a series of experiments, it will be determined whether there are deficits in these processes. Ten experiments are proposed which will examine specific motor processes in three age groups (20-25, 40-45, 65-70 yrs); each experiment singles out one process for careful scrutiny by isolating a functional aspect of the parameterization process. These experiments, when taken collectively, will determine if age alters these motor processes and provide an in-depth profile of the parameterization process never seen before. The obtained data will be useful in both theoretical and clinical settings: the former by isolating and describing the extent of the various motor deficits examined and the latter by pointing to where restoration and maintenance methods should be directed.
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