Task matters: an investigation on the effect of different secondary tasks on dual-task gait in older adults

Abstract

Background Dual-task gait performance declines as humans age, leading to increased fall risk among older adults. It is unclear whether different secondary cognitive tasks mediate age-related decline in dual-task gait. This study aimed to examine how type and difficulty level of the secondary cognitive tasks differentially affect dual-task gait in older adults. Methods Twenty young and twenty older adults participated in this single-session study. We employed four different types of secondary tasks and each consisted of two difficulty levels, yielding eight different dual-task conditions. The dual-task conditions included walking and 1) counting backward by 3 s or by 7 s; 2) remembering a 5-item or 7-item lists; 3) responding to a simple or choice reaction time tasks; 4) generating words from single or alternated categories. Gait speed and cognitive task performance under single- and dual-task conditions were used to compute dual-task cost (DTC, %) with a greater DTC indicating a worse performance. Results A significant three-way interaction was found for the gait speed DTC (p = .04). Increased difficulty in the reaction time task significantly increased gait speed DTC for older adults (p = .01) but not for young adults (p = .90). In contrast, increased difficulty level in the counting backward task significantly increased gait speed DTC for young adults (p = .03) but not for older adults (p = .85). Both groups responded similarly to the increased task difficulty in the other two tasks. Conclusions Older adults demonstrated a different response to dual-task challenges than young adults. Aging might have different impacts on various cognitive domains and result in distinctive dual-task gait interference patterns.

Comparison between the Impacts of Memory and Arithmetic-Based Dual Tasks on Physical Performance in Women with Fibromyalgia

“…However, considering a previous study focused on women with FM [ 14 ], in the MbDT, three unrelated words are probably not enough to be considered highly complex. In this regard, more words (five to seven, as used in a previous study [ 42 ] would be needed to consider this task as highly complex. Therefore, MbDT in the back scratch and arm curl can be classified as easier tasks, and the 10-step stair test as a moderately difficult task.…”

“…This could indicate that participants were processing during the physical fitness test. In order to avoid this issue, previous studies have used a different approach, asking people to recall words during the physical test instead of immediately after [ 42 , 46 ]. In this regard, Goh, Pearce, and Vas [ 42 ] compared four types of different DT, including counting backwards and recalling a list of words.…”

“…In order to avoid this issue, previous studies have used a different approach, asking people to recall words during the physical test instead of immediately after [ 42 , 46 ]. In this regard, Goh, Pearce, and Vas [ 42 ] compared four types of different DT, including counting backwards and recalling a list of words. Results showed that the AbDT was more demanding (with higher DTC) than the MbDT.…”

“…Results showed that the AbDT was more demanding (with higher DTC) than the MbDT. Taking into account the methodology employed by Goh, Pearce, and Vas [ 42 ], our results could have confounded the those of our intervention.…”

Concern About Falling, Confidence in Balance, Quality of Life, and Depression Symptoms in Community-Dwelling Older Adults After a 24-week Dual-Task Training With Variable and Fixed Priority: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Both cognitive and motor functions are highly demanded in daily dual-task activities, such as walking, which simultaneously challenge both dynamic balance and executive function (Goh et al, 2021). The walking and talking dual-task paradigm has been frequently studied as a real-world situation to examine cognitive-motor interactions, especially in older and faller-prone persons (Tomas-Carus et al, 2019; Verghese et al, 2002), indicating aging and/or diseases generate a deterioration of dual-task performance since attentional capacity is more and more exceeded as aging progresses (Woollacott & Shumway-Cook, 2002).…”