Abstract
In a postural-suprapostural task, appropriate prioritization is necessary to achieve task goals and maintain postural stability. A “posture-first” principle is typically favored by elderly people in order to secure stance stability, but this comes at the cost of reduced suprapostural performance. Using a postural-suprapostural task with a motor suprapostural goal, this study investigated differences between young and older adults in dual-task cost across varying task prioritization paradigms. Eighteen healthy young (mean age: 24.8 ± 5.2 years) and 18 older (mean age: 68.8 ± 3.7 years) adults executed a designated force-matching task from a stabilometer board using either a stabilometer stance (posture-focus strategy) or force-matching (supraposture-focus strategy) as the primary task. The dual-task effect (DTE: % change in dual-task condition; positive value: dual-task benefit, negative value: dual-task cost) of force-matching error and reaction time (RT), posture error, and approximate entropy (ApEn) of stabilometer movement were measured. When using the supraposture-focus strategy, young adults exhibited larger DTE values in each behavioral parameter than when using the posture-focus strategy. The older adults using the supraposture-focus strategy also attained larger DTE values for posture error, stabilometer movement ApEn, and force-matching error than when using the posture-focus strategy. These results suggest that the supraposture-focus strategy exerted an increased dual-task benefit for posture-motor dual-tasking in both healthy young and elderly adults. The present findings imply that the older adults should make use of the supraposture-focus strategy for fall prevention during dual-task execution.
Highlights
Upright stance is a daily task that requires minimal attentional resources
It appears that under dual-task conditions without imposed task-prioritization, the unconscious “posture-first” strategy is an appropriate solution for the age-related postural destabilization occurring in older adults, as they are less able than young adults to reduce postural sway by adopting automatic postural control in the “supraposture-first” strategy [13,14,15,16]
Subjects may abort the suprapostural task for the sake of the postural task. In light of this inconsistency in findings of a task prioritization effect on postural control in older adults, the purpose of this study was to reexamine the influence of task prioritization (posture-focus (PF) versus supraposture-focus (SF)) in both young and older adults who were given specific task-priority instructions to maintain postural balance while performing a motor suprapostural task simultaneously
Summary
Upright stance is a daily task that requires minimal attentional resources. A secondary task (suprapostural task) increases the demand on attentional resources especially in geriatric or neurologically impaired populations [1,2]. Aging causes degeneration of sensorimotor systems required for stance stability [7,8], and reduces attentional resource availability for undertaking dual-task conditions [1,9]. Older adults typically prioritize the postural task as a means of fall prevention [10,11,12]. It appears that under dual-task conditions without imposed task-prioritization, the unconscious “posture-first” strategy is an appropriate solution for the age-related postural destabilization occurring in older adults, as they are less able than young adults to reduce postural sway by adopting automatic postural control in the “supraposture-first” strategy [13,14,15,16]
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