Aging and Complexity Effects on Hemisphere-Dependent Movement-Related Beta Desynchronization during Bimanual Motor Planning and Execution

With aging comes degradation of bimanual movement performance. A hallmark feature of bimanual movements is movement-related beta desynchronization (MRBD), an attenuation in the amplitude of beta oscillations associated with sensorimotor activation. Here, we investigated MRBD in 39 healthy adults (20 younger and 19 older adults) in frontal, central, and parietal regions across both hemispheres, during the planning and execution of a bimanual tracking task. Task accuracy decreased with age and during more difficult conditions when both hands had to move at different relative speeds. MRBD was mostly situated in the central region, and increased in older versus younger adults during movement execution but not planning. Irrespective of age, motor planning and execution were associated with increased MRBD in the left and right hemispheres, respectively. Notably, right central MRBD during motor planning was associated with bimanual task performance, particularly in older adults. Specifically, persons who demonstrated high MRBD during motor planning performed better on the bimanual tracking task. Our results highlight the importance of lateralized MRBD during motor planning, thereby shining new light on previous research and providing a promising avenue for future interventions. ; S.V.H. was supported by the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Hasselt University (BOF20KP18). D.A.B.M. was supported by the Incoming Mobility Fund of Hasselt University (BOF21KV04). K.C. and R.M. were supported by Research Foundation Flanders (G039821FWO). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We thank Marc Geraerts (Hasselt University) for the development of the experimental task.