Neural changes related to motion processing in healthy aging

Behavioral studies have found a striking decline in the processing of low-level motion in healthy aging whereas the processing of more relevant and familiar biological motion is relatively preserved. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the neural correlates of low-level radial motion processing and biological motion processing in 19 healthy older adults (age range 62-78 years) and in 19 younger adults (age range 20-30 years). Brain regions related to both types of motion stimuli were evaluated and the magnitude and time courses of activation in those regions of interest were calculated. Whole-brain comparisons showed increased temporal and frontal activation in the older group for low-level motion but no differences for biological motion. Time-course analyses in regions of interest known to be involved in both types of motion processing likewise did not reveal any age differences for biological motion. Our results show that low-level motion processing in healthy aging requires the recruitment of additional resources, whereas areas related to the processing of biological motion processing seem to be relatively preserved.