Abstract

While past studies have proposed that age differences in fine motor response inhibition can be partly explained by age-related declines in proactive cognitive control, this association has never been formally investigated. The present study thus aimed to examine the extent to which fine motor response inhibition relies on specific modes of cognitive control. To do so, 34 younger adults (YA) and 26 older adults (OA) completed a novel visual-motor finger sequencing task incorporating the AX-CPT paradigm, a common test of cognitive control processes. Participants were first trained on a short sequence of key presses to develop a prepotent visual-motor pattern. Then, they completed mixed blocks of sequences composed of 70% prepotent sequences and 30% conflict sequences, for which successful performance relied on response inhibition and reprogramming to override the prepotent pattern. In the final two blocks, stimulus onsets were preceded by an asterisk cue to promote the use of proactive control. Results from linear mixed effects models showed that cueing improved reaction time performance across all sequence types, and particularly so for the conflict sequence causing the most proactive interference (η_p^2 = 0.03). However, the effect of cueing did not significantly differ across age groups. Moreover, OAs' reaction patterns across sequence types resembled YAs'. This implies that inducing proactive control through cueing may be a viable means of improving fine motor response inhibition. However, given our high-performing OA sample, further investigation is needed to determine whether promoting proactive control will help all OAs as much as YAs.