TY - JOUR PY - 2019// TI - Age-related alterations in the modulation of intracortical inhibition during stopping of actions JO - Aging (Albany NY) A1 - Hermans, Lize A1 - Maes, Celine A1 - Pauwels, Lisa A1 - Cuypers, Koen A1 - Heise, Kirstin-Friederike A1 - Swinnen, Stephan P. A1 - Leunissen, Inge SP - 371 EP - 385 VL - 11 IS - 2 N2 - We investigated the effect of age on the ability to modulate GABAA-ergic and GABAB-ergic inhibitory activity during stopping of action (reactive inhibition) and preparation to stop (proactive inhibition). Twenty-five young and twenty-nine older adults performed an anticipated response version of the stop-signal task with varying levels of stop-signal probability. Paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied to left primary motor cortex to assess the modulation of GABAA-mediated short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) during stopping and GABAB-mediated long-interval intracortical inhibition (LICI) during the anticipation of a stop-signal. At the behavioral level, reactive inhibition was affected by aging as indicated by longer stop-signal reaction times in older compared to young adults. In contrast, proactive inhibition was preserved at older age as both groups slowed down their go response to a similar degree with increasing stop-signal probability. At the neural level, the amount of SICI was higher in successful stop relative to go trials in young but not in older adults. LICI at the start of the trial was modulated as a function of stop-signal probability in both young and older adults. Our results suggest that specifically the recruitment of GABAA-mediated intracortical inhibition during stopping of action is affected by aging.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1945-4589 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.18632/aging.101741 ID - ref1 ER -