Cargando…
Higher cognitive load interferes with head-hand coordination: virtual reality-based study
Daily life activities often involve decision-based reaching movements in different contexts and circumstances. These activities span a wide array of cognitive load types we face while executing motor functions. Here we use a virtual reality-based neurocognitive testing platform to assess cognitive-i...
Autores principales: | , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10582046/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37848473 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43337-x |
Sumario: | Daily life activities often involve decision-based reaching movements in different contexts and circumstances. These activities span a wide array of cognitive load types we face while executing motor functions. Here we use a virtual reality-based neurocognitive testing platform to assess cognitive-induced changes in motor behavior as reflected by modulations in head-hand coordination. Our paradigm is based on the Color Trails Test (CTT), which is designed to assess two types of cognitive functions: Trails A—sustained visual attention (SVA), and Trails B—divided attention (DA). The virtual reality CTT adaptation (VR-CTT) requires execution of large multi-directional hand movements and head rotations. We employed a cross-correlation analysis on hand and head kinematics data collected from 122 healthy participants (ages: 20–90 years; divided as follows: young, middle-aged, and older adults) who completed the VR-CTT. The level of spatial coherence of head-hand movements was found to be high (R ≥ 0.76) in both Trails A and B, in all age groups. However, assessing head-hand phase shifts revealed longer time lags (i.e., in which head leads hand) in Trails B versus Trails A, in all age groups. We conclude that allocating cognitive resources to DA task reduces head-hand synchrony as compared to SVA conditions. |
---|