Recent studies indicate that the ability to mentally represent action using motor imagery declines with advanced age (>64 years). As the ability to represent action declines, the elderly may experience increasing difficulty with movement planning and execution. Huffines Affiliate and Director of the Child Motor Development Laboratory, Dr. Carl Gabbard's recent publication in the Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics titled "Association between imagined and actual functional reach (FR): A comparison of young and older adults" provides insight to the effects of advanced age on the ability to mentally represent action and its association with movement execution. These results may have clinical implications based on the question of whether motor imagery training could improve movement estimations and how that might affect actual reach.

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