BMI Seminar // Healthy Aging and the motor system: from mechanisms to interventions

In the past decades, human life expectation has increased significantly. Current trends in the demographics of developed countries show a rapid growth of the older segment of the workforce. Workers >50 years old will represent the largest growing labor force segment in the next decade. The integration of subjects into modern societies relies increasingly on their ability to acquire constantly new skills to master current technologies, such as computers or cell phones. Advancing age is paralleled by a reduction of the ability to acquire novel skills, impacting on independence and integration into social and professional life. Potential underlying mechanisms are altered neuronal plasticity due to age-related changes in synaptic function and neurotransmission, beyond others. First evidence has been provided that non-invasive brain stimulation might improve impaired cognitive functions, such as motor learning, in aged subjects. The underlying mechanisms of these improvements are not completely understood, but crucial for further development of efficient interventional strategies to retain best cognitive functioning in older adults.
In the present talk, age-related changes in neuronal plasticity and age-related reorganization on a systems neuroscience level and its impact on (motor) learning will be discussed. Furthermore first proof-of-principles of novel interventional strategies to enhance cognitive functions in aged, based on non-invasive brain stimulation, will be introduced.