BUFFALO, NY — April 2, 2026 — A new #research paper was #published in Volume 18 of Aging-US on March 24, 2026, titled “Age-specific relationship between the modulation of brain dynamics in response to task demands and bimanual performance.”

Led by first author Sara Magalhães Ferreira from Hasselt University, with corresponding author Koen Cuypers from Hasselt University and KU Leuven, the study examined how age affects BOLD variability and its modulation with task demands during a bimanual task. The authors used fMRI in 22 younger and 23 older healthy adults who performed three increasingly complex task conditions.

The authors found that older adults showed higher BOLD variability in cerebellar lobule VIIIb and greater modulation across task conditions in sensorimotor and cerebellar regions. Modulation of BOLD variability predicted performance in an age- and region-dependent manner: in younger adults, reduced modulation in sensorimotor and visuospatial areas correlated with better performance, whereas in older adults, increased modulation in the inferior and superior parietal lobules was linked to higher performance. Across groups, better outcomes were associated with greater modulation in the middle occipital gyrus but lower modulation in cerebellar Crus I.

“In sum, this study highlights the potential role of BOLD variability modulation in shaping bimanual performance during aging.”

The authors note that, while the age-related differences in BOLD dynamics were clear, they did not find robust evidence supporting a brain-behavior relationship in bimanual performance, which limits how directly the neural findings can be interpreted behaviorally. They recommend future work using multimodal imaging, longitudinal designs, and studies that examine both cognitive and motor domains within the same participants to determine whether variability modulation reflects aging, experience, intervention, or broader cross-functional signatures of aging.

DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206363

Corresponding author - Koen Cuypers - [email protected]

Abstract video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TbcGFCZV9s

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Keywords - aging, bimanual coordination, Bimanual Tracking Task, BOLD variability, task modulation

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