Motor programming and the prediction of everyday functioning

The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive reserve, level of cognitive functioning, and motor programming as early markers for detecting declines in everyday functioning. Fifty nondemented, community-dwelling older adults completed a battery of traditional and experimental assessment measures at two time points. The results showed that both overall cognitive functioning and motor programming were useful for identifying individuals at risk for future changes in everyday functioning. The motor programming task did better than overall cognitive functioning in predicting current performances and was the most useful variable for predicting a change in functioning over time.