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Abstract #2013

Age-Related Differences of Brain Activation Patterns Upon Imaginary Walking

Ekkehard Kstermann1,2, Markus Ebke3, Katja Dolge4, Natascha Lohr1, Dieter Leibfritz2, Manfred Herrmann1

1ZKW/Neuropsychologie, Universitt Bremen, Bremen, Germany; 2Organische Chemie, Universitt Bremen, Bremen, Germany; 3Neurologie, Klinikum Bremen-Mitte, Bremen, Germany; 4JCLLaID, Jacobs University Bremen, Bremen, Germany


The steadiness of walking decreases in elderly with advancing age. This study was designed to explore changes in the activation pattern during walking. Healthy young and elderly subjects performed imaginated walking tasks while being scanned. Elderly subjects exhibited stronger and larger activations as compared to younger subjects with a marked increase in the IPL. During imaginated walking, negative BOLD signal changes were only observed in younger, but not in elderly subjects.