Dataset Information

Neural Correlates of Single- and Dual-Task Walking in the Real World.

ABSTRACT: Recent developments in mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI) technologies have enabled studies of human locomotion where subjects are able to move freely in more ecologically valid scenarios. In this study, MoBI was employed to describe the behavioral and neurophysiological aspects of three different commonly occurring walking conditions in healthy adults. The experimental conditions were self-paced walking, walking while conversing with a friend and lastly walking while texting with a smartphone. We hypothesized that gait performance would decrease with increased cognitive demands and that condition-specific neural activation would involve condition-specific brain areas. Gait kinematics and high density electroencephalography (EEG) were recorded whilst walking around a university campus. Conditions with dual tasks were accompanied by decreased gait performance. Walking while conversing was associated with an increase of theta (?) and beta (?) neural power in electrodes located over left-frontal and right parietal regions, whereas walking while texting was associated with a decrease of ? neural power in a cluster of electrodes over the frontal-premotor and sensorimotor cortices when compared to walking whilst conversing. In conclusion, the behavioral "signatures" of common real-life activities performed outside the laboratory environment were accompanied by differing frequency-specific neural "biomarkers". The current findings encourage the study of the neural biomarkers of disrupted gait control in neurologically impaired patients.

SUBMITTER: Pizzamiglio S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5603763 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Neural Correlates of Single- and Dual-Task Walking in the Real World.

Pizzamiglio Sara S Naeem Usman U Abdalla Hassan H Turner Duncan L DL

Frontiers in human neuroscience 20170914

Recent developments in mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI) technologies have enabled studies of human locomotion where subjects are able to move freely in more ecologically valid scenarios. In this study, MoBI was employed to describe the behavioral and neurophysiological aspects of three different commonly occurring walking conditions in healthy adults. The experimental conditions were self-paced walking, walking while conversing with a friend and lastly walking while texting with a smartphone. We ...[more]

PMID: 28959199

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Project description:Background: Multi-tasking is usually impaired in older people. In multi-tasking, a fixed order of sub-tasks can improve performance by promoting a time-structured preparation of sub-tasks. How proactive control prioritizes the pre-activation or inhibition of complex tasks in older people has received no sufficient clarification so far. Objective: To explore the effects of aging on neural proactive control mechanisms in a dual task. Methodology: To address this question, the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm was used. Two 2-alternative-forced-choice reaction tasks with a predefined order (T1 and T2) signaled by a cue had to be executed simultaneously or consecutively by young (mean age 25.1 years, n = 36) and old subjects (mean age 70.4 years, n = 118). Performance indices of dual-task preparation were used to assess the focused preparation of T1 and T2. To compare preparatory mechanisms at the neurophysiologic level, multi-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded and negative slow cortical potentials (SCPs) were analyzed as objective markers of the amount and localization of cortical pre-activation before sub-task presentation. Results: Dual-task performance was significantly slower in old adults. T1 performance was facilitated in both age groups, but T2 processing in old adults was not optimized by the temporal structure as efficiently as in young adults. Also, only young adults manifested a stable pattern of focused of negative slow-wave activity increase at medial frontal and right-hemisphere posterior regions, which was associated with a coordinated preparatory T1 pre-activation and T2 deferment, while old adults manifested a broad topographic distribution of negative SCPs associated with a pre-activation of sensory and motor processes. Conclusions: These observations demonstrate that the proactive preparation for dual tasking is altered with aging. It is suggested that in young adults, attention-based pre-activation of working memory and inhibitory networks in the right hemisphere synchronizes the simultaneous preparation of the two sub-tasks, whereas in old adults, sensory and motor networks appear to be non-specifically pre-activated for subsequent deferred mode of processing.

Project description:BackgroundThe impact of high distraction, real-world environments on dual-task interference and flexibility of attentional prioritization during dual-task walking in people with stroke is unknown.Research questionHow does a real-world environment affect dual-task performance and flexible task prioritization during dual-task walking in adults with and without stroke?MethodsAdults with stroke (n = 29) as well as age-, gender-, and education-matched adults without stroke (n = 23) participated. Single and dual-task walking were examined in two different environments (lab hallway, hospital lobby). Two different dual-task combinations were assessed (Stroop-gait, speech-gait). Each dual-task was performed first without explicit instruction about task prioritization (no-priority) and then with gait-priority instruction and Stroop/speech-priority instruction in randomized order.ResultsPeople with stroke had significantly slower dual-task gait speed (Stroop only) in the lobby than the lab, but the effect was not clinically meaningful. Stroop reaction time for all participants was also slower in the lobby than the lab. All participants slowed their walking speed while generating spontaneous speech, but this effect was not influenced by environment. The dual-task attention allocation strategy was generally inflexible to instructed prioritization in adults with and without stroke in both environments, however, the volitional attention allocation strategy differed for the two dual-task conditions such that speech was prioritized in the speech-gait dual-task and gait appeared to be prioritized in the Stroop-gait dual-task.SignificanceAlthough dual-tasking slows walking speed and verbal responses to auditory stimuli in people with stroke, the effects are not considerably impacted by a more complex, distracting environment. Adults with and without stroke may have difficulty overriding the preferred attention allocation strategy during dual-task walking, especially for habitual dual-tasks such as walking while speaking. It may also be that the cognitive control strategy governing task prioritization is influenced by degree of cognitive engagement.

Dataset Information

Neural Correlates of Single- and Dual-Task Walking in the Real World.

Publications

Neural Correlates of Single- and Dual-Task Walking in the Real World.

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