Abstract
Although gait-related dual-task interference in aging is well established, the effect of gait and cognitive task difficulty on dual-task interference is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of gait and cognitive task difficulty on cognitive-motor interference in aging. Fifteen older adults (72.1 years, SD 5.2) and 20 young adults (21.7 years, SD 1.6) performed three walking tasks of varying difficulty (self-selected speed, fast speed, and fast speed with obstacle crossing) under single- and dual-task conditions. The cognitive tasks were the auditory Stroop task and the clock task. There was a significant Group × Gait Task × Cognitive Task interaction for the dual-task effect on gait speed. After adjusting for education, there were no significant effects of gait or cognitive task difficulty on the dual-task effects on cognitive task performance. The results of this study provide evidence that gait task difficulty influences dual-task effects on gait speed, especially in older adults. Moreover, the effects of gait task difficulty on dual-task interference appear to be influenced by the difficulty of the cognitive task. Education is an important factor influencing cognitive-motor interference effects on cognition, but not gait.
Highlights
Functional community ambulation requires an ability to perform cognitive tasks while walking and an ability to adapt to extrinsic environmental factors that increase the complexity of mobility, such as obstacle avoidance and timecritical tasks [1]
We focus on gait speed as the measure of gait performance in dual-task conditions, since meta-analysis results show that cognitive-motor interference effects across a range of cognitive tasks are prominent in gait speed [2]
Because research has shown that dual-task effects on gait vary according to the type of cognitive task [17], we explore our hypothesis in two different cognitive-motor dual-task combinations
Summary
Functional community ambulation requires an ability to perform cognitive tasks while walking and an ability to adapt to extrinsic environmental factors that increase the complexity of mobility, such as obstacle avoidance (e.g., curbs) and timecritical tasks (e.g., crossing the street within the time constraints imposed by traffic signals) [1]. Research has shown that healthy older adults experience significant decrements in gait speed when cognitive tasks are performed while walking [2], a phenomenon referred to as dual-task interference or cognitive-motor interference. A limitation of the existing research on dual-task interference in aging is that it has focused predominantly on dualtask performance during unobstructed walking at preferred gait speed. Because slowing down during unobstructed walking in the gait laboratory is inconsequential for successful completion of the motor task, individuals may place more importance on performing the cognitive task [3]. It seems reasonable to assume that when gait task complexity increases and there is a greater potential threat to stability, individuals would place more importance on completing the gait task safely. The current study explores how gait task difficulty affects cognitive-motor interference
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