Studies show that as we enter older adulthood (greater than 64 years), our ability to mentally represent action in the form of using motor imagery declines. Using a chronometry paradigm to compare the movement duration of imagined and executed movements, we tested young-, middle-aged, and older adults on their ability to perform sequential finger…

Theory suggests that imagined and executed movement planning relies on internal models for action. Using a chronometry paradigm to compare the movement duration of imagined and executed movements, we tested children aged 7-11 years and adults on their ability to perform sequential finger movements. Underscoring this tactic was our desire to gain a…

Two tasks hypothesized to assess the efficiency of route selection were administered to 328 adults ranging from 18 to 93 years of age. Increased age was associated with slower completion of mazes, even after adjusting for differences in perceptual-motor speed, and with longer and less accurate routes in a task in which participants were asked to…

Performance-based measures of hand preference have been developed as an objective method of examining handedness. Previous research using this method by Bryden, Roy, and Mamolo (2003) showed that both skill demands and the position of the object in working space affect preferential hand reaching. Specifically, preferred hand reaches predominated…

Slowness in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been attributed to intrusive thoughts or meticulousness. Recent research suggests that slowness in OCD may be particularly evident on tests of executive function subserved by frontostriatal circuitry. In the present study, the speed and accuracy of responding on neuropsychological tests of…

Functional relationships between praxic performance and visual recognition ability of mentally retarded adults are discussed, in an attempt to integrate findings from developmental disorders of action with those described in the adult literature. Three groups of participants took part in the study: adults with Down's syndrome (D), Mentally…

A key factor influencing reorganization of function in damaged neural networks of the adult brain is stimulation. How to stimulate motor areas of patients with paralyses is a formidable challenge. One possibility is to use internal movement simulations, or motor imagery, as an alternative to conventional therapeutic interventions that require…