A comparison of two walking while talking paradigms in aging

Abstract

Background Our study aimed to (1) compare dual-task costs in gait and cognitive performance during two dual-task paradigms: walking while reciting alternate letters of the alphabet (WWR) and walking while counting backward by sevens (WWC); (2) examine the relationship between the gait and cognitive interference tasks when performed concurrently. Scope Gait and cognitive performance were tested in 217 non-demented older adults (mean age 76 ± 8.8 years; 56.2% female) under single and dual-task conditions. Velocity (cm/s) was obtained using an instrumented walkway. Cognitive performance was assessed using accuracy ratio: [correct responses] / [total responses]. Linear mixed effects models revealed significant dual-task costs, with slower velocity (p < .01) and decreased accuracy ratio (p < .01) in WWR and WWC compared to their respective single task conditions. Greater dual-task costs in velocity (p < .01) were observed in WWC compared to WWR. Pearson correlations revealed significant and positive relationships between gait and cognitive performance in WWR and WWC (p < .01); increased accuracy ratio was associated with faster velocity. Conclusions Our findings suggested that dual-task costs in gait increase as the complexity of the cognitive task increases. Furthermore, the positive association between the gait and cognitive tasks suggests that dual-task performance was not influenced by task prioritization strategies in this sample.

Functional connectivity associated with gait velocity during walking and walking‐while‐talking in aging: A resting‐state fMRI study

“…We have demonstrated reliable dual-task effects using this walking while talking paradigm in many articles using different cohorts of older adults [Brandler et al, 2012;Holtzer et al, 2014c;Li et al, 2014]. Consistent with the cognitive dual-task literature, our findings also revealed increased attention/executive demands in the dual-task compared to the single-task walking condition [Holtzer et al, 2006[Holtzer et al, , 2014b.…”

Multiple-modality exercise and mind-motor training to improve mobility in older adults: A randomized controlled trial

“…That is, participants had slower DT gait velocity (VF) probably due the lack of an overall effect of SSE on gait, and thus, the DT component did not change that relationship. If SSE had a negative effect on the cognitive aspect of the DT, it would have likely appeared in the other DT gait parameters, particularly under the serial sevens condition (S7), since this task has been shown to be more cognitively demanding than the VF task (Li et al, 2014). Furthermore, the measures of cognitive accuracy recorded from both DT gait VF and S7 conditions did not differ between groups at 24 weeks, which supports this hypothesis.…”

“…Cognitive deficits in older adults have been strongly associated with poor performance in several spatiotemporal gait characteristics, including slow velocity and increased stride time variability (Montero-Odasso et al, 2014). Moreover, slow gait velocity is an early indicator of cognitive impairment (Verghese et al, 2014) and is related to shortened life span (Studenski et al, 2011).…”

Arm swing asymmetry in overground walking

“…Previous work has shown that cognitive dual-tasks must be demanding if they are to evince measurable, consistent changes in gait parameters 15 , 18 , 22 , 45 – 47 . In this study, the application of an additional cognitive load, in the form of the commonly-used serial sevens subtraction task, resulted in a small yet significant decrease in the prevailing left-dominant asymmetry as measured by dASI compared to fast walking.…”