Dual and Triple Cognitive-Motor Task Interventions in Old Adults

Abstract

The concurrent-task paradigm (multitask setting) constitutes an appropriate methodology to assess executive attention, specifically to assess the ability to share attentional resources in order to attend to the requirements of the two or more tasks. Performance declines and costs increase gradually as task demands rise, especially in older adults. Since many activities of daily living involve the simultaneous performance of two or more motor and cognitive tasks, multitask settings can play a central role in the quality of life of institutionalized old adults. In community-dwelling old adults, performance costs have been proposed as a marker for cognitive frailty. In neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, concurrent tasks may provide valid measures of the progression of the diseases. In the chapter, the authors summarize an intervention model in multitask settings designed to reduce performance costs and improve functioning in daily life.