Citation

Depestele S, van Dun K, Verstraelen S, Ross V, Van Hoornweder S, Brijs K, Brijs T, Getzmann S, Meesen R. Neurobiol. Aging 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.11.014

PMID

36572595

Abstract

Motor control, a ubiquitous part of driving, requires increased cognitive controlled processing in older adults relative to younger adults. However, the influence of aging on motor-related neural mechanisms in the context of driving has rarely been studied. The present study aimed to identify age-related changes in cognitive control and attention allocation during a simulated steering task, using electroencephalography. Midfrontal theta, a marker for cognitive control, and posterior alpha power, a marker for attention allocation, were measured in a total of 26 young, 25 middle-aged, and 28 older adults. By adapting driving speed, the difficulty level of this steering task was individualized for each participant.

RESULTS show age-related changes in midfrontal theta power, but not in posterior alpha power, despite similar steering accuracy across age groups. Specifically, only younger and, to a lesser extent, middle-aged adults exhibited increased theta power while driving through more demanding curved segments relative to straight segments. In contrast, theta power upregulation was absent in older adults, suggesting a saturation of cognitive resources while driving, possibly due to a limitation in resource capacity, or less automatic motor-related neural processing.

Language: en

Keywords

Aging; Driving performance; Driving simulation; Electroencephalography; Frequency band analysis; Motor control