Age-related Differences In Performance Research Articles

Biomechanical mechanisms of jumping performance in youth elite female soccer players

ABSTRACT We aimed to determine key biomechanical parameters explaining age-related jumping performance differences in youth elite female soccer players. Multiple biomechanical parameters from countermovement (CMJ) squat (SJ) and drop (DJ) jump testing of elite female soccer players (n = 60) within the same national training centre were analysed across ages 9-11y, 12-14y and 15-19y. Effects of age group and jump type on jump height were found, with the older jumping higher than the younger groups in all jumps (P < 0.05). For DJ, higher reactive strength index was found for older, compared to each younger group (P < 0.001). For CMJ and SJ, peak power was the most decisive characteristic, with significant differences between each group for absolute peak power (P < 0.0001) and body-weight-normalised peak power in CMJ (57 ± 7W/kg, 50 ± 7W/kg, 44.7 ± 5.5W/kg; P < 0.05) and between the older and each younger group in SJ (56.7 ± 7.1W/kg, 48.9 ± 7.1W/kg, 44.6 ± 6W/kg; P < 0.01). Age-related differences in jumping performance in youth elite female soccer players appear to be due to power production during standing jumps and by the ability to jump with shorter ground contact times during reactive jumps.

Age-Related Differences in Academic Performance of Undergraduate Science Courses at the University of Nairobi, Kenya

The emergence of global-based knowledge economies has generated a world-wide demand for higher education among adults and tertiary age school graduates. Among the adults, there is quest for life-long learning in order to upgrade skills and maintain competitiveness within the rapidly evolving economies. This demand is not limited to the adults only but also among the young who view education as a means for realizing social, cultural, economic and political needs and aspirations. In this paper, the researchers explored the relationship between age and academic performance by comparing the performance of third year students in the Bachelor of Education (Science) on-campus mode of learning relative to those enrolled in the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode at the University of Nairobi. Results indicate that the on-campus students performed significantly better than the ODL students in Chemistry and Biology; t(44) = -4.427, p&lt;.05 and t(65) = -8.54, p&lt;.05 respectively. In Physics, on-campus students had a higher mean score of 54.22 against 54.04 of the ODE students. The difference in the means was not significant; t (71) = .120, p&gt;.05. However, there was no significant relationship between age and academic performance. The researchers conclude that age does not influence academic performance. Therefore, enhanced academic performance may be a matter of personal determination rather than age determined.

Age Differences in Prospective Memory: A Further Evaluation of the Executive Framework

ABSTRACTAccording to the executive framework of prospective memory (PM), age-related differences in PM performance are mediated by age-related differences in executive functioning (EF). The present study further explored this framework by examining which specific components of EF are associated with PM differences between and within three age groups. A group of children (7–9 years; N = 108), adolescents (12–14 years; N = 112), and adults (17–23 years; N = 106) performed focal- and non-focal event-based PM (EBPM) tasks, a time-based PM (TBPM) task, and tasks measuring EF components. Differences between age groups in focal EBPM, non-focal EBPM, and TBPM performance were mediated by, respectively, differences in interference control and response inhibition, performance on the ongoing task, and differences in working memory and response inhibition. However, within-age group analyses only revealed WM updating as significant predictor of TBPM performance in the adolescent group. These results support and further qualify the executive framework of PM. The differences in outcome dependent on the examined age range might be important for explaining mixed results of previous studies regarding the precise EF components underlying age-related PM task performance differences.

Age-related differences in recall and recognition: a meta-analysis.

Relative to younger adults, older adults tend to perform more poorly on tests of both free recall and item recognition memory. The age difference in performance is typically larger for recall tasks relative to those involving recognition. However, there have been reports of comparable age-related differences in free recall and item recognition performance. Further, a differential performance cost does not necessarily mean that processes involved in recall are specifically affected by age. Here we present a meta-analysis of 36 articles reporting 89 direct comparisons of free recall and item recognition in younger and older groups of participants. Standardized effect sizes reveal that age differences are larger for recall tasks (Hedges' g = 0.89, 95% confidence intervals [0.75, 1.03]) than for recognition tasks (0.54, [0.37, 0.72]). Further, Brinley analyses of the data suggest that distinct functions are needed to relate younger and older performance for the two tasks. These functions differ in intercept pointing to a disproportionate age difference in recall relative to recognition. This is in line with theories of memory and aging which posit specific deficits in processes related to search and retrieval from memory.

Within-Individual Age-Related Trends, Cycles, and Event-Driven Changes in Job Performance: a Career-Span Perspective

Past research on age-related differences in job performance have focused primarily between-person comparisons. In the present study, we examine within-individual changes in supervisor-rated job performance to examine the influence of age-related trends, cycles, and event-driven factors. Our analysis is based on an eight-wave dataset from a multiple-cohort sample of employees (N = 750) varying in age from 25 to 65 years. We used an age-sequential design to disentangle maturation effects from historical effects. Results showed that population-level, within-individual change in a general measure of job performance was characterized by an increase in the first phase of the career (workers of 25–30 years), and then by a progressive decline. Within-individual levels of job performance were generally higher for younger workers than for older workers, and mostly reflected the influence of population-level trends but some even-driven effects as well. Results were in line with predictions from Baltes and Baltes’s (1990) meta-theory of selective optimization with compensation and the effects of age-related losses on performance. Results also provide insights into understanding the job performance trajectory over the career span.

Cingulo-opercular adaptive control for younger and older adults during a challenging gap detection task.

Cingulo-opercular activity is hypothesized to reflect an adaptive control function that optimizes task performance through adjustments in attention and behavior, and outcome monitoring. While auditory perceptual task performance appears to benefit from elevated activity in cingulo-opercular regions of frontal cortex before stimuli are presented, this association appears reduced for older adults compared to younger adults. However, adaptive control function may be limited by difficult task conditions for older adults. An fMRI study was used to characterize adaptive control differences while 15 younger (average age=24years) and 15 older adults (average age=68years) performed a gap detection in noise task designed to limit age-related differences. During the fMRI study, participants listened to a noise recording and indicated with a button-press whether it contained a gap. Stimuli were presented between sparse fMRI scans (TR=8.6s) and BOLD measurements were collected during separate listening and behavioral response intervals. Age-related performance differences were limited by presenting gaps in noise with durations calibrated at or above each participant's detection threshold. Cingulo-opercular BOLD increased significantly throughout listening and behavioral response intervals, relative to a resting baseline. Correct behavioral responses were significantly more likely on trials with elevated pre-stimulus cingulo-opercular BOLD, consistent with an adaptive control framework. Cingulo-opercular adaptive control estimates appeared higher for participants with better gap sensitivity and lower response bias, irrespective of age, which suggests that this mechanism can benefit performance across the lifespan under conditions that limit age-related performance differences.

A-46 Impairments in Memory for “Who”, “When”, and “Where” are Detectable in Middle-Aged Adults

Abstract Objective We conducted a cross-sectional study to examine age-¬related differences in performance on a new test assessing memory for “who, when, and where” and associations among these elements. The test was designed to assess aspects of episodic memory by simulating an everyday experience of meeting a series of different people in different places across time. Method Healthy young (ages 18¬-25), middle-aged (ages 40-55), and older adults (ages 60+) were asked to remember a sequence of pictures of different faces paired with different places. After viewing the sequence, the participants were asked to pair each face with the correct place and put the face-place pairs in the correct sequence. Participants also completed a battery of standardized neuropsychological tests. Results Young adults remembered significantly more face-place pairs in the correct sequence than middle-aged (p &lt; .05) and older adults (p &lt; .05). There were no significant differences between middle-aged and older adults in the number of face-place pairs in correct sequence. Furthermore, young adults remembered significantly more face-place pairs irrespective of sequence than older adults (p &lt; .05). There were no significant differences between young and middle-aged adults or between middle-aged and older adults in the number of correct face-place pairs irrespective of sequence. Conclusions Using a new test that incorporates aspects of episodic memory, we found evidence for age-related differences in test performance beginning in middle age. We found that performance on the test correlated with performance on standardized measures of verbal memory and executive functioning but not visual confrontation naming.

When Older Adults Outperform Young Adults: Effects of Prior-Task Success in Arithmetic

Background: Older adults improve their cognitive performance on a target task after succeeding in a prior task. We tested whether effects of prior-task success occur via changing older adults’ ability to select the better strategy and/or to execute strategies efficiently. Methods: Young and older participants (n = 162) accomplished a computational estimation task (i.e., providing the best estimates to arithmetic problems) after accomplishing a dot comparison task. Results: Both groups increased their performance on computational estimation following success on dot comparison. Older adults improved most and outperformed young adults following prior-task success. Prior-task success led older adults to select the better strategy more often and to repeat (or not) the same strategy more often when it was appropriate. Better strategy use mediated effects of prior-task success. Individual differences in baseline performance moderated individuals’ sensitivity to effects of prior-task success. Conclusion: Our findings further our understanding of mechanisms underlying effects of prior-task success and provide new perspectives on how social environment modulates age-related differences in cognitive performance.

Age-related deficits in motor learning are associated with altered motor exploration strategies

How is motor learning affected by aging? Although several experimental paradigms have been used to address this question, there has been limited focus on the early phase of motor learning, which involves motor exploration and the need to coordinate multiple degrees of freedom in the body. Here, we examined motor learning in a body-machine interface where we measured both age-related differences in task performance as well as the coordination strategies underlying this performance. Participants (N = 65; age range 18–72 years) wore wireless inertial measurement units on the upper body, and learned to control a cursor on a screen, which was controlled by motions of the trunk. Results showed that, consistent with prior studies, there was an age-related effect on movement time, with middle-aged and older adults taking longer to perform the task than young adults. However, we also found that these changes were associated with limited exploration in older adults. Moreover, when considering data across a majority of the lifespan (including children), longer movement times were associated with greater inefficiency of the coordination pattern, producing more task-irrelevant motion. These results suggest exploration behaviors during motor learning are affected with aging, and highlight the need for different practice strategies with aging.

AGE-RELATED FEATURES OF MORPHOFUNCTIONAL STATUS AND TEMPERATURE HOMEOSTASIS IN HIGHLY SKILLED FOOTBALL PLAYERS

Aim. The article deals with establishing the features of morphofunctional characteristics and temperature balance in highly skilled football players aged 17–21. Materials and methods. Within the framework of the study, the following methods have been used: questioning; anthropometry; dynamometry; spirometry; echocardiography; electrocardiography at rest and before physical activities; functional measurements and tests; assessment of the thermal status. 18 football players participated in the study (the team from the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism). Results. We revealed significant age-related differences in the integral indicator of the life index. At the first stage of maturity, we registered an increase of the life index, which indicates the improvement of the functional reserves of the respiratory system under regular physical loads connected with playing football. We studied the indicators of physical performance and aerobic capacities in the football players of different age groups. We revealed age-related differences in physical performance during a two-stage PWC170 test with a submaximal physical load of 70–80 % of VO2 max. We also revealed age-related differences in the indicators of external respiration in highly skilled football players. The assessment of the thermal status was conducted with temperature measurement in 5 areas: the forehead, chest, abdomen, thigh, and back (CorTemp® body temperature recorder). The most pronounced diffe­rences in temperature were registered in athletes with various results in the PWC170 test. Conclusion. The data obtained indicate an adaptive increase of average-weighted skin temperature during the first load and active involvement of such a mechanism of heat loss like sweat evaporation during the second load. Two types of temperature curves are distinguished in accordance with temperature changes: the inert type and plastic type. The plastic type is characterized by a decrease of average skin temperature below the temperature at rest after a pause before the second load. The inert type is characterized by a smooth increase in skin temperature during the first load. A further increase was two times lower than that of the first load.

Performance and Pacing of Age Groups in Half-Marathon and Marathon.

The aim of the present study was to examine the age-related differences in performance and pacing in a half-marathon compared to a marathon. All finishers (n = 9137) in the Ljubljana 2017 half-marathon (n = 7258) and marathon (n = 1853) with available data on split times during the races, were analysed for pacing. Half-marathoners were slower than marathoners among women, (2.77 ± 0.35 versus 2.86 ± 0.39 m·s−1 respectively, p < 0.001), but faster among men (3.14 ± 0.45 versus 3.08 ± 0.46 m·s−1 respectively, p < 0.001). In both race distances, the <25 age group was the fastest and the >54 age group the slowest (p < 0.001). All age groups presented a positive pacing in both race distances and genders, with each segment being slower than the previous one. However, an end spurt was observed in the marathon, but not in the half-marathon. A more even pace in the half-marathon than in the marathon was shown for most age groups. In summary, age-group finishers in the half-marathon decreased running speed across the race, presented a more even pacing than marathoners, and did not show an end spurt.

Age and sex differences in human balance performance from 6-18 years of age: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BackgroundThe process of growing leads to inter-individual differences in the timing of growth, maturational, and developmental processes during childhood and adolescence, also affecting balance performance in youth. However, differences in balance performance by age and sex in youth have not been systematically investigated yet.ObjectiveThe objective of the present study was to characterize and quantify age- and sex-related differences in balance performance in healthy youth.MethodsA computerized systematic literature search was performed in the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus. To be applicable for analysis, studies had to report at least one measure of static steady-state, dynamic steady-state, proactive or reactive balance in healthy children (6–12 years) and/or adolescents (13–18 years). Coding of the studies was done according to the following criteria: age, sex, and balance outcome. Study quality was assessed using the Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies. Weighted standardized mean differences were calculated and classified according to their magnitude.ResultsTwenty-one studies examined age-related differences in balance performance. A large effect for measures of static steady-state balance (SMDba = 1.20) and small effects for proxies of dynamic steady-state (SMDba = 0.26) and proactive balance (SMDba = 0.28) were found; all in favor of adolescents. Twenty-five studies investigated sex-related differences in balance performance. A small-sized effect was observed for static steady-state balance (SMDbs = 0.33) in favor of girls and for dynamic steady-state (SMDbs -0.02) and proactive balance (SMDbs = -0.15) in favor of boys. Due to a lack of studies, no analysis for measures of reactive balance was performed.ConclusionsOur systematic review and meta-analysis revealed better balance performances in adolescents compared to children, irrespective of the measure considered. Sex-related differences were inconsistent. These findings may have implications for example in terms of trainability of balance in youth that should be investigated in future studies.

Age-Related Temporal Processing Deficits in Word Segments in Adult Cochlear-Implant Users.

Aging may limit speech understanding outcomes in cochlear-implant (CI) users. Here, we examined age-related declines in auditory temporal processing as a potential mechanism that underlies speech understanding deficits associated with aging in CI users. Auditory temporal processing was assessed with a categorization task for the words dish and ditch (i.e., identify each token as the word dish or ditch) on a continuum of speech tokens with varying silence duration (0 to 60 ms) prior to the final fricative. In Experiments 1 and 2, younger CI (YCI), middle-aged CI (MCI), and older CI (OCI) users participated in the categorization task across a range of presentation levels (25 to 85 dB). Relative to YCI, OCI required longer silence durations to identify ditch and exhibited reduced ability to distinguish the words dish and ditch (shallower slopes in the categorization function). Critically, we observed age-related performance differences only at higher presentation levels. This contrasted with findings from normal-hearing listeners in Experiment 3 that demonstrated age-related performance differences independent of presentation level. In summary, aging in CI users appears to degrade the ability to utilize brief temporal cues in word identification, particularly at high levels. Age-specific CI programming may potentially improve clinical outcomes for speech understanding performance by older CI listeners.

The age-related changes and sex difference in master swimming performance

Master athletes have been widely used to examine the age-induced decline of human performance. However, so far very limited reviews are available consolidating the age-related differences in master swimming performance. The aim of the present review was to summarize existing knowledge about the age-related changes in three modalities of swimming performance (i.e., pool-swimming, open-water swimming and swim split in triathlons of different distances). In addition, the paradigm of freestyle swimming records from 50 to 1500 m was used to examine age-related differences and sex difference in performance for age groups 25–29 to 100–104 years. For this example of master freestyle swimmers, the sex difference was smaller in the longer events and increased significantly after the age of ∼70 years. In summary, master athletes competing in swimming as single discipline (i.e., pool-swimming and open-water) and in triathlon (i.e., swim split as first discipline) improved their performances across calendar years. The age-related performance decline in swimming seems to be specific to the discipline, the sex and the length of the swimming event.

Effects of listener age and native language on perception of accented and unaccented sentences.

Degradations to auditory input have deleterious effects on speech recognition performance, especially by older listeners. Alterations to timing information in speech, such as occurs in rapid or foreign-accented speech, can be particularly difficult for older people to resolve. It is currently unclear how prior language experience modulates performance with temporally altered sentence-length speech utterances. The principal hypothesis is that prior experience with a foreign language affords an advantage for recognition of accented English when the talker and listener share the same native language, which may minimize age-related differences in performance with temporally altered speech. A secondary hypothesis is that native language experience with a syllable-timed language (Spanish) is advantageous for recognizing rapid English speech. Native speakers of English and Spanish completed speech recognition tasks with both accented and unaccented English sentences presented in various degrees of time compression (TC). Native English listeners showed higher or equivalent recognition of accented and unaccented English speech compared to native Spanish listeners in all TC conditions. Additionally, significant effects of aging were seen for native Spanish listeners on all tasks. Overall, the results did not support the hypotheses for a benefit of shared language experience for non-native speakers of English, particularly older native Spanish listeners.

Age-Related Differences in Fitness Performance and Technical Skills of Young Soccer Players

Abstract Introduction . The aim of the study was to identify differences in the level of fitness and technical skills of young soccer players depending on age. Material and methods . The study examined 140 male elite soccer players from the Polish Sport Academy aged 12 to 18 years. Body mass, body height, fitness abilities (5-m, 10-m, and 30-m sprint; envelope run; standing long jump; pull-ups; and beep test) and technical skills (ball handling, juggling alternately with the leg and the head, short passes, and long passes) were measured. Results . Statistically significant (p &lt; 0.05) differences indicating improvement with age were found in older players in speed (15.5%-18.8%), agility (5.7%), lower limb explosive power (39.4%), upper limb strength (254.3%), and cardiorespiratory endurance (31.9%). With regards to technical skills, the greatest progress was documented for long shots (passes) with the internal instep from the ground (140.6% for the dominant leg, DL, and 730.3% for the non-dominant leg, NDL). Slightly lower results were obtained for short shots (passes) with the central instep from the air (128% for DL and 103.6% for NDL) and short shots (passes) with the medial part of the foot (52.1% for DL and 82.8% for NDL), and the lowest were recorded for ball handling with direction change (32.3% for DL and 29.9% for NDL). Conclusions . In the process of talent identification and monitoring of training effects, coaches should take into account the differences in the rate of the development of fitness and technical skills of young athletes.

Cooperative contributions of structural and functional connectivity to successful memory in aging

Understanding the precise relation between functional connectivity and structural (white matter) connectivity and how these relationships account for cognitive changes in older adults are major challenges for neuroscience. We investigate these issues using an approach in which structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed to integrate functional and structural connectivity data from younger and older adults (n = 62), analyzed with a common framework based on regions connected by canonical tract groups (CTGs). CTGs (e.g., uncinate fasciculus) serve as a common currency between functional and structural connectivity matrices, and ensure equivalent sparsity in connectome information. We used this approach to investigate the neural mechanisms supporting memory for items and memory for associations, and how they are affected by healthy aging. We found that different structural and functional CTGs made independent contributions to source and item memory performance, suggesting that both forms of connectivity underlie age-related differences in specific forms of memory. Furthermore, the relationship between functional and structural connectivity was best explained by a general relationship between latent constructs—a relationship absent in any specific CTG group. These results provide insights into the relationship between structural and functional connectivity patterns, and elucidate their relative contribution to age-related differences in source memory performance.

Developmental trends in lineup performance: Adolescents are more prone to innocent bystander misidentifications than children and adults.

We tested developmental trends in eyewitness identification in biased and unbiased lineups. Our main interest was adolescent's lineup performance compared with children and adults. 7-10-year-olds, 11-13-year-olds, 14-16-year-olds, and adults (N = 431) watched a wallet-theft-video and subsequently identified the thief, victim, and witness from simultaneous target-present and target-absent six-person photo lineups. The thief-absent lineup included a bystander previously seen in thief proximity. Research on unconscious transference suggested a selection bias toward the bystander in adults and 11-13-year-olds, but not in younger children. Confirming our hypothesis, adolescents were more prone to bystander bias than all other age groups. This may be due to adolescents making more inferential errors than children, as predicted by fuzzy-trace theory and associative-activation theory, combined with lower inhibition control in adolescents compared with adults. We also replicated a clothing bias for all age groups and age-related performance differences in our unbiased lineups. Consistent with previous findings, participants were generally overconfident in their decisions, even though confidence was a better predictor of accuracy in older compared with younger participants. With this study, we show that adolescents have an increased tendency to misidentify an innocent bystander. Continued efforts are needed to disentangle how adolescents in comparison to other age groups perform in forensically relevant situations.

2019. Host Gene Expression Signatures for Diagnosis of Acute Respiratory Infections in the Elderly

BackgroundDespite advances in molecular techniques the etiology of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) is often difficult to differentiate either at the point of care or with advanced microbiological techniques. There is growing interest in host biomarker assays, including those based on gene expression patterns in circulating cells, to aid in differentiation of viral and bacterial diseases. However, there are concerns about how such tests perform in vulnerable aging populations where host responses are often muted.MethodsIn order to assess performance of gene expression-based biomarkers, we enrolled patients presenting to the emergency department with clinical ARI and selected 184 individuals aged ≤25 and ≥60 years old with proven viral or bacterial ARI. Gene expression in peripheral blood was measured with Affymetrix microarrays. Published viral and bacterial signatures were applied to the data and Bayesian approaches were used to develop novel discriminative models.ResultsWe noted a marked decline in signature performance between younger and older individuals in both viral (AUC 0.90 vs. 0.64) and bacterial (AUC 0.91 vs. 0.50) infections. Incorporation of age-related genomic changes was able to restore much of the signature performance in older individuals. When examining the genomic differences driving the drop in signature performance, we found marked perturbations in expression of immunoglobulin genes and pathways driving known immunoregulatory mechanisms that provide novel insights into an age-related decline in ARI-focused immunity.ConclusionPathogen class-specific host-based gene expression signatures offer great promise as diagnostic tools. However, altered immune responses in vulnerable populations such as the elderly are also manifested at the genomic level and can affect diagnostic signature performance. Age-specific alterations in the components of a diagnostic signature can minimize much of this effect, however this work highlights the need for consideration of age during biomarker development for infectious diseases. Furthermore, studies of age-related differences in biomarker performance can lead to important breakthroughs in our understanding of age-associated alterations in immunity.Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

Memory Image Completion: Establishing a task to behaviorally assess pattern completion in humans.

For memory retrieval, pattern completion is a crucial process that restores memories from partial or degraded cues. Neurocognitive aging models suggest that the aged memory system is biased toward pattern completion, resulting in a behavioral preference for retrieval over encoding of memories. Here, we built on our previously developed behavioral recognition memory paradigm—the Memory Image Completion (MIC) task—a task to specifically target pattern completion. First, we used the original design with concurrent eye‐tracking in order to rule out perceptual confounds that could interact with recognition performance. Second, we developed parallel versions of the task to accommodate test settings in clinical environments or longitudinal studies. The results show that older adults have a deficit in pattern completion ability with a concurrent bias toward pattern completion. Importantly, eye‐tracking data during encoding could not account for age‐related performance differences. At retrieval, spatial viewing patterns for both age groups were more driven by stimulus identity than by response choice, but compared to young adults, older adults' fixation patterns overlapped more between stimuli that they (wrongly) thought had the same identity. This supports the observation that older adults choose responses perceived as similar to a learned stimulus, indicating a bias toward pattern completion. Additionally, two shorter versions of the task yielded comparable results, and no general learning effects were observed for repeated testing. Together, we present evidence that the MIC is a reliable behavioral task that targets pattern completion, that is easily and repeatedly applicable, and that is made freely available online.