The role of executive control in cognitive and motor aging

同时或快速连续执行多项任务的能力是成功成人功能的重要要求。例如，日常生活中的活动，如自我进食、梳理和在环境中导航，可以分解为一系列步骤。研究表明，认知控制过程的效率（抑制环境噪音或不适当的反应）对多任务处理很重要，这些过程随着健康老龄化而下降。最近的证据表明，这些注意力控制过程在晚年的运动表现中起着越来越重要的作用。所提出的工作的总体目标是研究在三种情况下多任务表现所需的认知控制过程：(i)认知排序；（ii）手指测序；（三）步行。这些实验测试环境与日常任务相关，如记忆和完成待办事项清单、键盘指法和交谈时走路。对于每个主题，将招募健康的年轻人（18-30岁）和老年人（60-80岁）参加单次实验，旨在改变在多任务功能中需要认知控制过程的程度。一般的预期是，与年轻人相比，不断增加的认知控制需求将导致老年人不成比例地更大的表现障碍。总之，这项工作将推进认知和运动老化方面的知识，并将为改善老年人独立功能的设计提供信息。

The ability to carry out multiple tasks simultaneously or in rapid succession is a vital requirement of successful adult functioning. For example, activities of daily life such as self-feeding, grooming, and navigating in one's environment, can be decomposed into a sequence of steps. Research suggests that the efficiency of cognitive control processes (suppressing environmental noise or inappropriate responses) is important for multi-tasking, and that these processes decline with healthy aging. More recent evidence points to the increasing role that these attentional control processes play in motor performance in late life. The general aim of the proposed work is to study the cognitive control processes required for multiple-task performance within three contexts: (i) cognitive sequencing; (ii) finger sequencing; and (iii) walking. These experimental test contexts are relevant to everyday tasks such as remembering and completing a to-do list, keyboard fingering, and walking while conversing. For each theme, samples of healthy young (18-30) and older (60-80) adults will be recruited to participate in single-session experiments designed to vary the extent to which cognitive control processes are needed during multiple-task functioning. The general expectation is that increasing cognitive control demands will lead to disproportionately greater performance impairments for older adults compared to young adults. Together, the work will advance knowledge on cognitive and motor aging, and will inform designs to improve the independent functioning of older adults.