Behavioral and neural correlates of normal aging effects on motor preparatory mechanisms of speech production and limb movement

Normal aging is associated with decline of the sensorimotor mechanisms that support movement function in the human brain. In this study, we used behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) recordings to investigate the effects of normal aging on the motor preparatory mechanisms of speech production and limb movement. The experiment involved two groups of older and younger adults who performed randomized speech vowel vocalization and button press motor reaction time tasks in response to temporally predictable and unpredictable visual stimuli. Behavioral results revealed age-related slowness of motor reaction time only during speech production in response to temporally unpredictable stimuli, and this effect was accompanied by increased pre-motor ERP activities in older vs. younger adults during the speech task. These results indicate that motor preparatory mechanisms of limb movement during button press are not affected by normal aging, whereas the functional capacity of these mechanisms is reduced in older adults during speech production in response to unpredictable sensory stimuli. These findings suggest that the aging brain selectively compromises the motor timing of speech and recruits additional neural resources for motor planning and execution of speech, as indexed by the increased pre-motor ERP activations in response to temporally unpredictable vs. predictable sensory stimuli.