Exp Brain Res (2012) 216:35–40 DOI 10.1007/s00221-011-2904-8 123 RESEARCH ARTICLE Compromised encoding of proprioceptively determined joint angles in older adults: the role of working memory and attentional load Daniel J. Goble · Marianne A. Mousigian · Susan H. Brown Received: 19 July 2011 / Accepted: 6 October 2011 / Published online: 18 October 2011  Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract Perceiving the positions and movements of one’s body segments (i.e., proprioception) is critical for movement control. However, this ability declines with older age as has been demonstrated by joint angle matching paradigms in the absence of vision. The aim of the present study was to explore the extent to which reduced working memory and attentional load inXuence older adult proprio- ceptive matching performance. Older adults with relatively HIGH versus LOW working memory ability as determined by backward digit span and healthy younger adults, per- formed memory-based elbow position matching with and without attentional load (i.e., counting by 3 s) during target position encoding. Even without attentional load, older adults with LOW digit spans (i.e., 4 digits or less) had larger matching errors than younger adults. Further, LOW older adults made signiWcantly greater errors when atten- tional loads were present during proprioceptive target encoding as compared to both younger and older adults with HIGH digit span scores (i.e., 5 digits or greater). These results extend previous position matching results that sug- gested greater errors in older adults were due to degraded input signals from peripheral mechanoreceptors. SpeciW- cally, the present work highlights the role cognitive factors play in the assessment of older adult proprioceptive acuity using memory-based matching paradigms. Older adults with LOW working memory appear prone to compromised proprioceptive encoding, especially when secondary cogni- tive tasks must be concurrently executed. This may ulti- mately result in poorer performance on various activities of daily living. Keywords Proprioception · Working memory · Position sense · Aging · Attentional loading Introduction Proprioception encompasses the perception of one’s body segment positions and movements in space. Using assess- ments of joint angle matching ability without vision, older adults have been shown to have decreased proprioceptive sensibility compared to younger adults (for reviews see Goble et al. 2009a, b; Goble 2010). In such studies, increased matching errors for older individuals have typi- cally been ascribed to degradation of the peripheral mechanoreceptors in the muscle, skin and joints with older age (ShaVer and Harrison 2007). However, it should be noted that joint angle matching tasks inherently require cognitive processes, particularly when matching tasks involve the reproduction of memorized joint angles (Adamo et al. 2007, 2009; Petrella et al. 1997; Hurley et al. 1998; Westlake et al. 2007). In this case, it seems plausible that the more prevalent decline in working memory (WM) associated with older age (e.g., Bopp and Verhaeghen 2005) might predispose older adults to poorer performance on memory-based joint position matching tasks. Another cognitive process that may contribute to declines in proprioceptive matching performance in older adults is attentional load. Indirect support for this hypothe- sis can be garnered from dual-task studies involving the D. J. Goble (&) School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-7251, USA e-mail: dgoble@mail.sdsu.edu M. A. Mousigian · S. H. Brown School of Kinesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA