Age peculiarities of interaction of motor and cognitive brain systems while processing information of different modality and complexity

Abstract

The interaction of motor and cognitive brain systems while performing the tasks of processing information of different modality and complexity is an important component of the brain’s integrative activity, which provides the individual adaptation of a person to changing environmental conditions. 116 individuals participated in the research; there were right-handed children aged 7–8, adolescents aged 11–12 and 15–16, and young men aged 19–20 among them. The investigated individuals performed a cognitive task, which included determining the modalities of a signal, the shape of a figure, the meaning of a word, and the fast and error-free reaction of differentiation with left (goL) or right (goR) hand or inhibition of motor action (nogo). The motor task involved a quick reaction to signals of different modality in the go/go/go mode. The results show that in the ontogenesis, the interaction of motor and cognitive brain systems gradually increases during processing of information of different modality and complexity by children, adolescents and young people. Closer functional interaction of motor and cognitive brain systems according to the indicators of speed and success of performing both tasks was found to be greater in the young men aged 19–20 and the adolescents aged 15–16 and 11–12 than in the children aged 7–8. The investigated individuals with the high-speed level of performing cognitive tasks were characterized with reliably higher indicators of motor reactions. Correlation analysis confirmed the statistically significant relationship between the speed characteristics of the motor and cognitive functional systems of the brain. The age dynamics of functional interaction between the motor and cognitive systems, as well as the speed and success of performing tasks depended on the mode selection of information processing. The success and speed of performing different variants of motor tasks in the go/go/go mode were higher in all age groups than in the conditions of the combined motor and cognitive tasks while differentiating goL/nogo/goR. The functional interaction of motor and cognitive brain systems in children, adolescents and young men while processing information increased gradually and depended on the modality of signals. The speed and success of results of performing motor and cognitive tasks were higher than for imaginative signals, and lower than for verbal ones for all age groups. Left-brain dominance of functional asymmetry was found for the cognitive systems. The number of mistakes on words was always less and the reaction speed was higher for the right hand than for the left one in the goL/nogo/goR mode. Asymmetry was weaker in the children aged 7–8 for the combined tasks using imaginative stimuli, and statistically significant in the groups of adolescents aged 11–12 and young men aged 15–16 and 19–20 for verbal signals presented in the goL/nogo/goR mode. The research results and methods can be used for the prognostic estimate of human activity in the conditions of complex information loads and neurodegenerative diseases.