Cognitive-motor dual-task interference: A systematic review of neural correlates

Abstract

Cognitive-motor interference refers to dual-tasking (DT) interference (DTi) occurring when the simultaneous performance of a cognitive and a motor task leads to a percentage change in one or both tasks. Several theories exist to explain DTi in humans: the capacity-sharing, the bottleneck and the cross-talk theories. Numerous studies investigating whether a specific brain locus is associated with cognitive-motor DTi have been conducted, but not systematically reviewed. We aimed to review the evidences on brain activity associated with the cognitive-motor DT, in order to better understand the neurological basis of the CMi. Results were reported according to the technique used to assess brain activity. Twenty-three articles met the inclusion criteria. Out of them, nine studies used functional magnetic resonance imaging to show an additive, under-additive, over- additive, or a mixed activation pattern of the brain. Seven studies used near-infrared spectroscopy, and seven neurophysiological instruments. Yet a specific DT locus in the brain cannot be concluded from the overall current literature. Future studies are warranted to overcome the shortcomings identified.

The interaction between cognition and motor control: A theoretical framework for dual-task interference effects on posture, gait initiation, gait and turning

“…In general, several models have tried to explain dual tasks and their effects in humans. However, there is no consensus on which theory best predicts the effects of DT [47,110]. The most widely accepted theories are summarized below ( [40,54,95] postulates that cognitive-motor interference is caused by a limited-capacity parallel processor that divides resources among to-be-performed tasks.…”

Alteration of brain dynamics during natural dual-task walking

“…Irrespective of the cognitive task modality, during CMI, a performance deterioration is usually observed in the cognitive and/or in the motor task (Leone et al, 2017). Focusing on the motor behavior, studies on dual-task walking demonstrated alterations in gait velocity, stride length and stride time (Beurskens et al, 2016;De Sanctis et al, 2014;Malcolm et al, 2015;Patel et al, 2014;Pizzamiglio et al, 2017;Plummer et al, 2015).…”

Why is the explicit component of motor adaptation limited in elderly adults?

“…However, it appears that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region responsible for higher-level task 762 executive, is bringing several deficits together, since it is: 1) structurally degraded with aging), 2) likely 763 responsible for reduced explicit adaptation , 3) likely involved in dual-task 764 execution (Leone et al, 2017;Watanabe and Funahashi, 2018), and 4) important for working memory 765 capacity . This brain region appears to be an interesting target when 766 designing future studies that investigate the cause for explicit strategy decline with aging.…”