Attentional Demands of Perturbation Evoked Compensatory Stepping Responses: Examining Cognitive-Motor Interference to Large Magnitude Forward Perturbations

Abstract

The authors examined the cognitive-motor interference of reactive balance control under dual-task condition in young healthy adults. Sudden large forward perturbations were delivered in stance position with (dual-task) and without (single-task balance) a working memory task. This task was also performed in quiet stance (single-task cognition). Dual tasking significantly reduced postural stability and compensatory step length, and delayed the reaction time. The significant linear correlation between postural stability and compensatory step length present in the single-task balance condition was absent in the dual-task condition. Performance on the cognitive task also declined under the dual-task condition. Our results indicate a mutual cognitive-motor interference between the reactive balance and the working memory task suggesting a potential overlap between attentional resources allocated for these two tasks.

Timing of reactive stepping among individuals with sub-acute stroke: effects of ‘single-task’ and ‘dual-task’ conditions

“…Although non-significant, these trends were consistent with those identified in healthy young, healthy older, and balance-impaired older adults [16, 17, 18]. When examining the responses from the three types of trials, the general trends were for performance to improve from the first usual-response trial to the later usual-response trials, and then to worsen from the later usual-response trials to the dual-task trial (i.e.…”

“…The effects of dual-task scenarios on reactive balance tasks have been examined in healthy young, healthy older, and balance-impaired older adults [16, 17, 18]. Overall, the addition of a cognitive task generally results in decrements in performance of reactive balance tasks.…”

“…Overall, the addition of a cognitive task generally results in decrements in performance of reactive balance tasks. Specifically, under dual-task conditions, increases in centre of pressure excursion have been identified during feet-in-place reactions in healthy young adults [16], as have decreased postural stability, decreased compensatory step length, and slowed reaction time in healthy young adults during reactive stepping [17]. Furthermore, in healthy older adults, execution of anticipatory postural adjustments following an external perturbation (prior to the stepping response) has been found to be impaired with the addition of a dual task, with reductions in both duration and amplitude of the adjustment [18].…”

Motor control during a weight-bearing visuomotor task

“…obstacle in the way, or mis-predicting the height of a step) is also of recent interest. This has been investigated during goal-directed upper extremity reaching (Cheng et al, 2013;Taylor & Thoroughman, 2007), or a sliding platform to induce a slip while standing (Bhatt, Yang, & Pai, 2012;Nnodim et al, 2015;P. J. Patel & Bhatt, 2015;Pavol, Runtz, Edwards, & Pai, 2002;Zettel, McIlroy, & Maki, 2008).…”

“…These have revealed that motor responses are in competition with cognitive responses by the detection of delays in either a stepping reaction to a balance perturbation (Little & Woollacott, 2015;Sun & Shea, 2015), or delays in cognitive response (Nnodim, Kim, & Ashton-Miller, 2015; P. J. Patel & Bhatt, 2015) when prioritizing stability (motor response) over the cognitive task.…”