Abstract
Aging is characterized by a general decline in physiological and behavioral function that has been widely interpreted within the context of the loss of complexity hypothesis. In this paper, we examine the relation between aging, neuromuscular function and physiological-behavioral complexity in the arm-hand effector system, specifically with reference to physiological tremor and isometric force production. Experimental findings reveal that the adaptive behavioral consequences of the aging-related functional decline in neurophysiological processes are less pronounced in simple motor tasks which provides support for the proposition that the motor output is influenced by both extrinsic (e.g., task related) and intrinsic (e.g., coordination, weakness) factors. Moreover, the aging-related change in complexity can be bidirectional (increase or decrease) according to the influence of task constraints on the adaptation required of the intrinsic properties of the effector system.
Highlights
A hallmark feature of aging and the onset of disease is a general decline in physiological function and behavioral capacity [1]
There is a general decline in the physiological function that is often manifested by specific changes in the functional and structural properties of skeletal muscle [2,3,4, 51]
We examined the relation between aging, neuromuscular function, and physiologicalbehavioral complexity, with reference to physiological tremor and isometric force production
Summary
A hallmark feature of aging and the onset of disease is a general decline in physiological function and behavioral capacity [1]. There is not a single definition of a complex system but there is considerable agreement on the properties of complex systems that include (a) many degrees of freedom and interconnections between them and (b) the exhibition of spontaneous self-organization that is adaptive, nonlinear, and dynamic in that it evolves in time, and where order evolves and dissolves without a controller [6, 12, 17, 20] This theoretical backdrop has led to the experimental emphasis on the time- and frequency-domain structure of variability as opposed to the traditional approach of only considering the Journal of Aging Research dispersion properties of variables through the assumptions about central tendency properties of distributions. These tools have revealed changes in complexity with healthy aging and/or age-related diseases like essential tremor, type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease [23,24,25,26,27,28,29]
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