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How Older Adults Cope with Cognitive Complexity and Environmental Constraints during Dual-Task Walking: The Role of Executive Function Involvement
This cross-sectional study investigated the interactive dual-task (DT) effects of executive function demands and environmental constraints on older adults’ walking and the moderating role of habitual physical activity (PA). Locomotor performance under different environmental constraints (flat versus...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6571728/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31126116 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101835 |
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author | Forte, Roberta Pesce, Caterina Di Baldassarre, Angela Shea, John Voelcker-Rehage, Claudia Capranica, Laura Condello, Giancarlo |
author_facet | Forte, Roberta Pesce, Caterina Di Baldassarre, Angela Shea, John Voelcker-Rehage, Claudia Capranica, Laura Condello, Giancarlo |
author_sort | Forte, Roberta |
collection | PubMed |
description | This cross-sectional study investigated the interactive dual-task (DT) effects of executive function demands and environmental constraints on older adults’ walking and the moderating role of habitual physical activity (PA). Locomotor performance under different environmental constraints (flat versus obstructed walking) and cognitive performance with different executive function involvement (backward counting versus random number generation) were assessed under single-task (ST) and DT conditions in 135 participants (mean age 68.1 ± 8.4). The weekly number of daily steps was measured. Reciprocal DT effects of walking on cognitive performance and of the cognitive task on gait performance were computed and submitted to analyses of covariance with age, PA level, and cognitive functioning as covariates, followed by linear regressions with PA level as predictor. Cognitive task demands and environmental constraints individually and jointly affected gait variability (p = 0.033, η(p)(2) = 0.08) and executive function performance (p = 0.009, η(p)(2) = 0.09). Physical activity level predicted a low but significant percentage of variance of DT effects on gait only in flat walking (R(2) = 0.04, p = 0.027). Results suggest that older individuals may adopt variable task prioritization in dual tasking depending on the type of executive function involvement and the environmental constraints on walking. Their DT ability was slightly affected by habitual PA. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6571728 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-65717282019-06-18 How Older Adults Cope with Cognitive Complexity and Environmental Constraints during Dual-Task Walking: The Role of Executive Function Involvement Forte, Roberta Pesce, Caterina Di Baldassarre, Angela Shea, John Voelcker-Rehage, Claudia Capranica, Laura Condello, Giancarlo Int J Environ Res Public Health Article This cross-sectional study investigated the interactive dual-task (DT) effects of executive function demands and environmental constraints on older adults’ walking and the moderating role of habitual physical activity (PA). Locomotor performance under different environmental constraints (flat versus obstructed walking) and cognitive performance with different executive function involvement (backward counting versus random number generation) were assessed under single-task (ST) and DT conditions in 135 participants (mean age 68.1 ± 8.4). The weekly number of daily steps was measured. Reciprocal DT effects of walking on cognitive performance and of the cognitive task on gait performance were computed and submitted to analyses of covariance with age, PA level, and cognitive functioning as covariates, followed by linear regressions with PA level as predictor. Cognitive task demands and environmental constraints individually and jointly affected gait variability (p = 0.033, η(p)(2) = 0.08) and executive function performance (p = 0.009, η(p)(2) = 0.09). Physical activity level predicted a low but significant percentage of variance of DT effects on gait only in flat walking (R(2) = 0.04, p = 0.027). Results suggest that older individuals may adopt variable task prioritization in dual tasking depending on the type of executive function involvement and the environmental constraints on walking. Their DT ability was slightly affected by habitual PA. MDPI 2019-05-23 2019-05 /pmc/articles/PMC6571728/ /pubmed/31126116 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101835 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Forte, Roberta Pesce, Caterina Di Baldassarre, Angela Shea, John Voelcker-Rehage, Claudia Capranica, Laura Condello, Giancarlo How Older Adults Cope with Cognitive Complexity and Environmental Constraints during Dual-Task Walking: The Role of Executive Function Involvement |
title | How Older Adults Cope with Cognitive Complexity and Environmental Constraints during Dual-Task Walking: The Role of Executive Function Involvement |
title_full | How Older Adults Cope with Cognitive Complexity and Environmental Constraints during Dual-Task Walking: The Role of Executive Function Involvement |
title_fullStr | How Older Adults Cope with Cognitive Complexity and Environmental Constraints during Dual-Task Walking: The Role of Executive Function Involvement |
title_full_unstemmed | How Older Adults Cope with Cognitive Complexity and Environmental Constraints during Dual-Task Walking: The Role of Executive Function Involvement |
title_short | How Older Adults Cope with Cognitive Complexity and Environmental Constraints during Dual-Task Walking: The Role of Executive Function Involvement |
title_sort | how older adults cope with cognitive complexity and environmental constraints during dual-task walking: the role of executive function involvement |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6571728/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31126116 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101835 |
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