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Exploring attentional focus of older adult fallers during heightened postural threat
OBJECTIVES: Threats to balance, and subsequent increases in fall-related anxiety, can disrupt attentional processing during gait in older adults, leading to behavioral adaptations which may increase fall risk. However, limited research has investigated what changes in attention occur to contribute t...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7479009/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31119367 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01190-6 |
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author | Ellmers, Toby J. Cocks, Adam J. Young, William R. |
author_facet | Ellmers, Toby J. Cocks, Adam J. Young, William R. |
author_sort | Ellmers, Toby J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | OBJECTIVES: Threats to balance, and subsequent increases in fall-related anxiety, can disrupt attentional processing during gait in older adults, leading to behavioral adaptations which may increase fall risk. However, limited research has investigated what changes in attention occur to contribute to these disruptions. The aim of this research was to describe changes in attention that occur during gait when older adults’ balance is threatened, while exploring how previous fall history and trait movement reinvestment (conscious monitoring and control of movement) also influence attention. METHODS: Forty older adults reported where they focus their attention when walking during two scenarios: (1) when they are relaxed and there is little risk of falling, and; (2) when their balance is threatened and they are anxious of falling. RESULTS: During the high-threat condition, participants reported greater attention towards movement processes, threats to balance, worries/disturbing thoughts and self-regulatory strategies, with less attention directed towards task-irrelevant thoughts. However, fall history influenced attentional focus, with fallers directing greater attention towards worries/disturbing thoughts. Contrary to predictions, trait movement reinvestment was not associated with attention directed towards movement processes. DISCUSSION: As processing worries/disturbing thoughts will likely reduce attentional resources available for effective postural control, we highlight this as one potential area to target interventions aimed at reducing the likelihood of repeated falling. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00426-019-01190-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7479009 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-74790092020-09-21 Exploring attentional focus of older adult fallers during heightened postural threat Ellmers, Toby J. Cocks, Adam J. Young, William R. Psychol Res Original Article OBJECTIVES: Threats to balance, and subsequent increases in fall-related anxiety, can disrupt attentional processing during gait in older adults, leading to behavioral adaptations which may increase fall risk. However, limited research has investigated what changes in attention occur to contribute to these disruptions. The aim of this research was to describe changes in attention that occur during gait when older adults’ balance is threatened, while exploring how previous fall history and trait movement reinvestment (conscious monitoring and control of movement) also influence attention. METHODS: Forty older adults reported where they focus their attention when walking during two scenarios: (1) when they are relaxed and there is little risk of falling, and; (2) when their balance is threatened and they are anxious of falling. RESULTS: During the high-threat condition, participants reported greater attention towards movement processes, threats to balance, worries/disturbing thoughts and self-regulatory strategies, with less attention directed towards task-irrelevant thoughts. However, fall history influenced attentional focus, with fallers directing greater attention towards worries/disturbing thoughts. Contrary to predictions, trait movement reinvestment was not associated with attention directed towards movement processes. DISCUSSION: As processing worries/disturbing thoughts will likely reduce attentional resources available for effective postural control, we highlight this as one potential area to target interventions aimed at reducing the likelihood of repeated falling. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00426-019-01190-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2019-05-22 2020 /pmc/articles/PMC7479009/ /pubmed/31119367 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01190-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2019 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
spellingShingle | Original Article Ellmers, Toby J. Cocks, Adam J. Young, William R. Exploring attentional focus of older adult fallers during heightened postural threat |
title | Exploring attentional focus of older adult fallers during heightened postural threat |
title_full | Exploring attentional focus of older adult fallers during heightened postural threat |
title_fullStr | Exploring attentional focus of older adult fallers during heightened postural threat |
title_full_unstemmed | Exploring attentional focus of older adult fallers during heightened postural threat |
title_short | Exploring attentional focus of older adult fallers during heightened postural threat |
title_sort | exploring attentional focus of older adult fallers during heightened postural threat |
topic | Original Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7479009/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31119367 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01190-6 |
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