Objectives: Aging is associated with cognitive decline, including visuomotor and memory concerns, and with motor system changes, including gait slowing and stooped posture. We investigated the associations of visuomotor performance and episodic memory with motor system characteristics in healthy older adults. Methods: Neurologically healthy older adults (N = 160, aged 50-89) completed a battery of cognitive and motor tasks. Cognitive variables were grouped by principal components analysis (PCA) into two components: visuomotor performance and verbal episodic memory. Our primary predictor variables were two aspects of motor function: timed-up-and-go (TUG) speed and neck angle. Additional predictor variables included demographic factors (age, sex and education) and indicators of physical fitness (body mass index/BMI and grip strength). All seven predictor variables were entered stepwise into a multiple regression model for each cognitive component. Results: Poor visuomotor performance was best predicted by a combination of advanced age, high BMI and slow TUG, whereas poor verbal memory performance was best predicted by a combination of advanced age, male sex, low education and acute neck angle. Conclusions: Upright posture and mobility were associated with different cognitive processes, suggesting different underlying neural mechanisms. These results provide the first evidence for a link between postural alignment and cognitive functioning in healthy older adults. Possible causal relationships are discussed.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 23. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 04 January 2025.
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#2,035,520
of 32,792,213 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
#534
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Outputs of similar age
#27,130
of 331,047 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
#9
of 87 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,792,213 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 93rd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 6,791 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.5. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 87 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.
