The relationship between GABA neurotransmission and motor behavior in advancing age

Abstract

The hypotheses was: 'There is a decrease in mean reaction time and an increase in the latency of the reaction to the stop signal (SSRT) with a decreased GABA-concentration in elderly as compared to their younger counterparts.'

In contrast to the hypothesis the results point out that there is no significant difference in GABA-concentration when younger adults are compared to their older equivalents. In addition to this, no significant differences between both age-groups were found concerning mean reaction time. However, a tendency of a positive correlation between GABA and mean reaction time was found, hypothesizing that younger adults experience faster reaction times in comparison to their older counterparts. Nonetheless, these results were non-significant and need to be interpreted carefully. Ultimately, a significant difference between age-groups was measured considering SSRT, where older adults exhibit a longer SSRT in comparison to their younger counterparts. SSRT and GABA show a tendency of an inverse relationship to each other. However, all the aforementioned results should be interpreted with caution because small sample sizes were used, thus reducing representability. Ultimately, more research is recommended to fully understand the process of motor inhibition.