Age differences between children and young adults in the dynamics of dual-task prioritization: Body (balance) versus mind (memory).

Abstract

Task prioritization can lead to trade-off patterns in dual-task situations. The authors compared dual-task performances in 9-and 11-year-old children and young adults performing a cognitive task and a motor task concurrently. The motor task required balancing on an ankle-disc board. Two cognitive tasks measured working memory and episodic memory at difficulty levels individually adjusted during the course of extensive training. Adults showed performance decrements in both task domains under dual-task conditions. In contrast, children showed decrements only in the cognitive tasks but actually swayed less under dual-task than under single-task conditions and continued to reduce their body sway even when instructed to focus on the cognitive task. The authors argue that children perform closer to their stability boundaries in the balance task and therefore prioritize protection of their balance under dual-task conditions.

Lifespan changes in multi-tasking: Concurrent walking and memory search in children, young, and older adults

“…While previous studies reported prioritization of walking or postural control over cognitive tasks in children [9] or older adults [6], participants in our study, irrespective of their ages, showed higher dual-task costs in walking than in semantic fluency tasks. Like these authors proposed, we consider the critical factor in prioritization the perceived difficulty of the sensorimotor task.…”

“…Like these authors proposed, we consider the critical factor in prioritization the perceived difficulty of the sensorimotor task. Participants in the aforementioned studies had to balance on ankle-disc boards [9] or walk a parcours with obstacles [6]. In our study, participants walked on flat ground and their postural stability was never really threatened.…”

“…Studies investigating multi-tasking in children point to improvements throughout middle-childhood [for reviews , 8]. Few studies investigated combinations of cognitive and sensorimotor tasks in children, however, similar prioritization of balance over concurrent cognitive tasks was observed in 9-11 year old children [9]. To our knowledge, no study has as yet compared concurrent cognitive and sensorimotor performances in children and older adults within the same paradigm.…”

Why is it Difficult to Cross the Street While Talking?

“…However, sometimes children can improve their performances when they do both tasks together. When balancing on a wobbly board while trying to remember word lists or while working on 2-back, they swayed less than they did when they were just trying to balance without performing the mental task [5]. This result indicates that children also focus more strongly on their movements in challenging situations, just like older adults do.…”

Dual task performance of working memory and postural control in major depressive disorder.

“…However, studies using the dual task paradigm for combinations of cognitive and sensorimotor tasks (Kerr, Condon, & McDonald, 1985;Maylor, Allison, & Wing, 2001;Maylor & Wing, 1996) suggest that in certain groups performance in these tasks may be less automatic than assumed. Reliable dual task costs in concurrently performed cognitive tasks indicated that walking or maintaining postural stability required cognitive resources in older adults (for a review, see Woollacott & Shumway-Cook, 2002) and children (Schaefer, Krampe, Lindenberger, & Baltes, 2008). As to psychiatric disorders, Rapp, Krampe, and Baltes (2006) found that dual task costs were even higher in patients with early Alzheimer's disease compared with age-matched healthy controls.…”