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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different workstations on prefrontal brain activity and cognitive performance during standardized neurocognitive tasks.Methods: With a repeated-measures laboratory study, 20 university students (24.5 ± 3.0 years old; 10 females) were exposed to either a conventional sitting workstation or leaning workstation. After a one-hour exposure to the workstation, participants performed five different neurocognitive tasks which assessed the executive function and working memory.Results: The oxygenation levels in the prefrontal cortex were significantly different between the two workstations (p's < 0.042). However, there was no significant difference in cognitive performance (speed and accuracy) between the two workstations (p's > 0.064). Given higher oxygenation concentration in the prefrontal cortex, the leaning workstation might have improved the capacity of executive function and working memory when compared to the sitting workstation. Conclusions:The findings suggest that leaning workstation may improve the cognitive function when compared to sitting workstation by increasing the prefrontal cortex activity associated with the executive function and working memory. This study exposed the potential neurocognitive benefits of the leaning workstation.

The objective of this study was to compare the effect of desktop conditions (mouse and touchscreen) on frontal lobe activity, motor function, and task performance on the part of patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) and healthy control participants. Methods: Six PD patients and 6 control participants performed an attentional cuing task while using a mouse and touchscreen. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIR) was used to measure the oxygenation levels in the frontal lobe, and a motion capture system was used to measure motor function. Results: Compared to the mouse, touchscreen use increased the travel velocity of the arm and hand significantly, while mouse use caused more forward head displacement among participants. PD patients required longer response times (1,000 ms) to complete the attentional cuing task than did controls (796 ms). Although the difference was not statistically significant, PD patients showed lower levels of total oxygenation in the frontal lobe (0.13 µmol/L) than did the control group (0.31 µmol/L) and showed few changes in brain activation across both desktop conditions. PD patients had greater neck flexion (71°) than did the control group (58°). Conclusions: The results suggested that PD patients exhibited lower cognitive and motor function while using both a mouse and touchscreen than did a control group. Future studies could study the way complex cognitive tasks influence the cognitive and motor function of PD patients with tremor.