Age effects on the asymmetry of the motor system: evidence from cortical oscillatory activity

Functional hemispheric asymmetry can be lost with aging. In this electroencephalographic study, we assessed hemispheric asymmetries in regulating motor responses by analyzing oscillatory brain activity during a go/nogo task in younger and older right-handed participants. Three conditions were embedded in the task: go, high-conflict and low-conflict nogo. The hand used to respond to go stimuli was varied block-wise. Independently of the go/nogo conditions and responding hand, young participants showed asymmetric desynchronizations in the mu (10 Hz) and beta (18-22 Hz) frequency bands that was stronger in the scalp sensorimotor region contralateral to the hand used for the go responses, while older adults showed a more symmetric pattern of desynchronization. These findings indicate that a loss of hemispheric asymmetry is a hallmark of the aging motor system, consistent with a decline of inter-hemispheric motor inhibition in normal aging.