TY - JOUR
T1 - Electrocortical Activity in Older Adults Is More Influenced by Cognitive Task Complexity Than Concurrent Walking
AU - Vila-Cha, Carolina
AU - Vaz, Claudia
AU - Oliveira, Anderson Souza
N1 - Copyright © 2022 Vila-Chã, Vaz and Oliveira.
PY - 2022/1/24
Y1 - 2022/1/24
N2 - Human cognitive-motor performance largely depends on how brain resources are allocated during simultaneous tasks. Nonetheless, little is known regarding the age-related changes in electrocortical activity when dual-task during walking presents higher complexity levels. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate whether there are distinct changes in walking performance and electrocortical activation between young and older adults performing simple and complex upper limb response time tasks. Physically active young (23 ± 3 years,
n = 21) and older adults (69 ± 5 years,
n = 19) were asked to respond as fast as possible to a single stimuli or a double stimuli appearing on a touch screen during standing and walking. Response time, step frequency, step frequency variability and electroencephalographic (EEG) N200 and P300 amplitudes and latencies from frontal central and parietal brain regions were recorded. The results demonstrated that older adults were 23% slower to respond to double stimuli, whereas younger adults were only 12% slower (
p < 0.01). The longer response time for older adults was accompanied by greater step frequency variability following double-stimuli presentations (
p < 0.01). Older adults presented reduced N200 and P300 amplitudes compared to younger participants across all conditions (
p < 0.001), with no effects of posture (standing vs walking) on both groups (
p > 0.05). More importantly, the P300 amplitude was significantly reduced for older adults when responding to double stimuli regardless of standing or walking tasks (
p < 0.05), with no changes in younger participants. Therefore, physically active older adults can attenuate potential walking deficits experienced during dual-task walking in simple cognitive tasks. However, cognitive tasks involving decision making influence electrocortical activation due to reduced cognitive resources to cope with the task demands.
AB - Human cognitive-motor performance largely depends on how brain resources are allocated during simultaneous tasks. Nonetheless, little is known regarding the age-related changes in electrocortical activity when dual-task during walking presents higher complexity levels. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate whether there are distinct changes in walking performance and electrocortical activation between young and older adults performing simple and complex upper limb response time tasks. Physically active young (23 ± 3 years,
n = 21) and older adults (69 ± 5 years,
n = 19) were asked to respond as fast as possible to a single stimuli or a double stimuli appearing on a touch screen during standing and walking. Response time, step frequency, step frequency variability and electroencephalographic (EEG) N200 and P300 amplitudes and latencies from frontal central and parietal brain regions were recorded. The results demonstrated that older adults were 23% slower to respond to double stimuli, whereas younger adults were only 12% slower (
p < 0.01). The longer response time for older adults was accompanied by greater step frequency variability following double-stimuli presentations (
p < 0.01). Older adults presented reduced N200 and P300 amplitudes compared to younger participants across all conditions (
p < 0.001), with no effects of posture (standing vs walking) on both groups (
p > 0.05). More importantly, the P300 amplitude was significantly reduced for older adults when responding to double stimuli regardless of standing or walking tasks (
p < 0.05), with no changes in younger participants. Therefore, physically active older adults can attenuate potential walking deficits experienced during dual-task walking in simple cognitive tasks. However, cognitive tasks involving decision making influence electrocortical activation due to reduced cognitive resources to cope with the task demands.
KW - cognitive load
KW - decision-making
KW - dual-task
KW - electroencephalography
KW - physical activity
KW - walking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124177029&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fnagi.2021.718648
DO - 10.3389/fnagi.2021.718648
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35140598
SN - 1663-4365
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
JF - Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
M1 - 718648
ER -