image: Figure 8. Experimental protocol. The figure shows the study protocol consisting of two sessions, each lasting approximately two hours. The first session included a screening and BTT familiarization in a dummy MR scanner. During this session, participants were introduced to the Bimanual Tracking Task (BTT) and performed three task conditions - Line 1:1, Line 3:1, and Angle 3:1 - in all possible directions. The task setup was placed over the participants' hips while they lay supine in the scanner. In the second session, participants underwent an MR protocol comprising several sequences. Each trial of the BTT during fMRI included a 1-second preparation phase, a 6-second execution phase, and a 1-second interstimulus interval. The same three BTT conditions were used during the fMRI scan, but only in a single direction, as shown in the figure. Abbreviations: BTT = Bimanual Tracking Task; fMRI = functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; MR = Magnetic Resonance; MRS = Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; rs-fMRI = resting-state fMRI; T1 = T1-weighted.
Credit: Copyright: © 2026 Ferreira et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
“Older adults exhibited higher BOLD SD in cerebellar lobule VIIIb and greater modulation across task conditions in both sensorimotor and cerebellar regions.”
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.
Paper DOI: https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206363
Corresponding author: Koen Cuypers – koen.cuypers@uhasselt.be
Keywords: aging, bimanual coordination, Bimanual Tracking Task, BOLD variability, task modulation
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Journal
Aging-US
Method of Research
News article
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Age-specific relationship between the modulation of brain dynamics in response to task demands and bimanual performance
Article Publication Date
24-Mar-2026
COI Statement
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.