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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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A continuous, attention-demanding cognitive task significantly improved stability in older adults compared with an internal or external focus of attention. This suggests that older adults were able to effectively allocate their attention away from postural control, allowing a more automatic type of control to operate. Future studies should investigate a variety of cognitive tasks to determine the degree of postural improvement that can be observed in older adults.

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The present literature not only reveals the use of a wide variety of cognitive tasks but variability in their interaction with postural control. The question then arises, as to, whether postural control is sensitive to specific features of a cognitive task. The present experiment assessed the impact of cognitive tasks with interstimulus intervals (ISI) of varied duration and sensory modality on postural control in young adults. Seventeen participants (23.71 ± 1.99 years old) were instructed to stand on a force platform while concurrently performing cognitive tasks with ISIs of two and 5 s. The tasks were presented both, auditorily and visually. The visual tasks consisted of counting the total occurrence of a single digit. The auditory tasks consisted of counting the total occurrence of a single letter. Performing the cognitive tasks with an ISI of 2 s resulted only in an increase in the anteroposterior mean power frequency. Presenting the tasks visually also significantly reduced area of 95% confidence ellipse and AP and mediolateral sway variability. These results may suggest that ISIs can modify postural performance by altering the allocation of attentional focus. Also, presenting tasks using a visual sensory modality appears to yield lower postural sway.