Dual-task interference: Attentional and neurophysiological influences

Hiraga, Cynthia Yukiko; Garry, Michael I.; Carson, Richard G.; Summers, Jeffery J.

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2009.07.019

Cited by 41 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…It is well established that performing two tasks simultaneously often degrades performance of one or both tasks, potentially due to competition for shared attentional resources [43]. In the current study performance of the dominant hand became more variable as the involvement of the non-dominant hand increased.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Task-dependent effects of interhemispheric inhibition on motor control

Fling

Seidler

2012

Behavioural Brain Research

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Interhemispheric communication consists of a complex balance of facilitation and inhibition that is modulated in a task-dependent manner. However, it remains unclear how individual differences in interhemispheric interactions relate to motor performance. To assess interhemispheric inhibition, we utilized the ipsilateral silent period technique (iSP; evoked by suprathreshold transcranial magnetic stimulation), which elicits inhibition of volitional motor activity. Participants performed three force production tasks: 1) unimanual (right hand) constant force, 2) bimanual constant force, (bimanual simultaneous) and 3) bimanual with right hand constant force and left hand sine wave tracking (bimanual independent). We found that individuals with greater IHI capacity demonstrated reduced mirror EMG activity in the left hand during unimanual right hand contraction. However, these same individuals demonstrated the poorest performance during the bimanual independent force production task. We suggest that a high capacity for IHI from one motor cortex to another can effectively prevent “motor overflow” during unimanual tasks, but it can also limit interhemispheric cooperation during independently controlled bimanual tasks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Task-dependent effects of interhemispheric inhibition on motor control

Fling

Seidler

2012

Behavioural Brain Research

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“…Capacity theories of attention that assume attentional resource limitations on the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously (Kahneman, 1973; McDowd, 2007; Hiraga et al, 2009) would predict even greater decrements in steadiness for older adults when descending drive from the motor cortex increased during the 30% MVC task and as the fatiguing contraction progressed. Interestingly, error rates in mental math (executive function task) during the fatiguing contraction did not differ across the age groups for the low-cognitive demand sessions and high-cognitive demand, indicating that mental math performance was not diminished in the older adults compared with the young.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motor Variability during Sustained Contractions Increases with Cognitive Demand in Older Adults

Noven

Pereira

Yoon

et al. 2014

Front. Aging Neurosci.

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To expose cortical involvement in age-related changes in motor performance, we compared steadiness (force fluctuations) and fatigability of submaximal isometric contractions with the ankle dorsiflexor muscles in older and young adults and with varying levels of cognitive demand imposed. Sixteen young (20.4 ± 2.1 year: 8 men, 9 women) and 17 older adults (68.8 ± 4.4 years: 9 men, 8 women) attended three sessions and performed a 40 s isometric contraction at 5% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) force followed by an isometric contraction at 30% MVC until task failure. The cognitive demand required during the submaximal contractions in each session differed as follows: (1) high-cognitive demand session where difficult mental math was imposed (counting backward by 13 from a 4-digit number); (2) low-cognitive demand session which involved simple mental math (counting backward by 1); and (3) control session with no mental math. Anxiety was elevated during the high-cognitive demand session compared with other sessions for both age groups but more so for the older adults than young adults (p < 0.05). Older adults had larger force fluctuations than young adults during: (1) the 5% MVC task as cognitive demand increased (p = 0.007), and (2) the fatiguing contraction for all sessions (p = 0.002). Time to task failure did not differ between sessions or age groups (p > 0.05), but the variability between sessions (standard deviation of three sessions) was greater for older adults than young (2.02 ± 1.05 vs. 1.25 ± 0.51 min, p < 0.05). Thus, variability in lower limb motor performance for low- and moderate-force isometric tasks increased with age and was exacerbated when cognitive demand was imposed, and may be related to modulation of synergist and antagonist muscles and an altered neural strategy with age originating from central sources. These data have significant implications for cognitively demanding low-force motor tasks that are relevant to functional and ergonomic in an aging workforce.

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“…Others found no dual-task specific brain areas, but an increased activation of the areas that are active in both single tasks (Van Impe et al, 2011). TMS studies show that performing a motor task in upper (or lower) extremity increases corticospinal excitability (Hiraga et al, 2009) and decreases corticospinal inhibition (Sohn et al, 2005) to lower (or upper) extremity muscles. Although this activity-dependent coupling may mediate some of the dual task interference in dual motor tasks, it is not sensitive to several task modulations that do influence behavioral outcome measures (Hiraga et al, 2009).…”

Section: Relationship Between Structural and Functional Changes And Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aging causes a reorganization of cortical and spinal control of posture

Papegaaij

Taube

Baudry

et al. 2014

Front. Aging Neurosci.

153

140

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Classical studies in animal preparations suggest a strong role for spinal control of posture. In humans it is now established that the cerebral cortex contributes to postural control of unperturbed and perturbed standing. The age-related degeneration and accompanying functional changes in the brain, reported so far mainly in conjunction with simple manual motor tasks, may also affect the mechanisms that control complex motor tasks involving posture. This review outlines the age-related structural and functional changes at spinal and cortical levels and provides a mechanistic analysis of how such changes may be linked to the behaviorally manifest postural deficits in old adults. The emerging picture is that the age-related reorganization in motor control during voluntary tasks, characterized by differential modulation of spinal reflexes, greater cortical activation and cortical disinhibition, is also present during postural tasks. We discuss the possibility that this reorganization underlies the increased coactivation and dual task interference reported in elderly. Finally, we propose a model for future studies to unravel the structure-function-behavior relations in postural control and aging.

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Dual-task interference: Attentional and neurophysiological influences

Cited by 41 publications

References 27 publications

Task-dependent effects of interhemispheric inhibition on motor control

Task-dependent effects of interhemispheric inhibition on motor control

Motor Variability during Sustained Contractions Increases with Cognitive Demand in Older Adults

Aging causes a reorganization of cortical and spinal control of posture

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