scholarly journals How Does Physical Demand Affect Cognitive Performance? Interference Between Outdoor Running And Narrative Memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 237-241
Author(s):  
Samantha L. Epling ◽  
Graham K. Edgar ◽  
Paul N. Russell ◽  
William S. Helton
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Real World ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
Dual Tasking ◽  
Physical Demand ◽  
Dual Task Paradigm

Dual-tasking situations are common in military, firefighting, search and rescue, and other high risk operations. Cognitive and physical demands can occur at the same time, but little is known about the specific demands of real world tasks or how they might interfere with one another. It is well known that attempting simultaneous tasks will divide and divert attention, but to what extent? In this experiment, a narrative memory task was paired with an outdoor running task, and as expected, memory task performance declined when participants were asked to run at the same time. It is suggested that more cognitively demanding physical tasks be used within this dual-task paradigm for a better understanding of the human cognitive resource structure, i.e., how and why certain tasks interfere.

scholarly journals Younger and Late Middle-Aged Adults Exhibit Different Patterns of Cognitive-Motor Interference During Locomotor Adaptation, With No Disruption of Savings

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Rossi ◽  
Ryan T. Roemmich ◽  
Nicolas Schweighofer ◽  
Amy J. Bastian ◽  
Kristan A. Leech
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Motor Adaptation ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Dual Tasking ◽  
Locomotor Adaptation ◽  
Middle Aged Adults ◽  
Back Task

It has been proposed that motor adaptation and subsequent savings (or faster relearning) of an adapted movement pattern are mediated by cognitive processes. Here, we evaluated the pattern of cognitive-motor interference that emerges when young and late middle-aged adults perform an executive working memory task during locomotor adaptation. We also asked if this interferes with savings of a newly learned walking pattern, as has been suggested by a study of reaching adaptation. We studied split-belt treadmill adaptation and savings in young (21 ± 2 y/o) and late middle-aged (56 ± 6 y/o) adults with or without a secondary 2-back task during adaptation. We found that young adults showed similar performance on the 2-back task during baseline and adaptation, suggesting no effect of the dual-task on cognitive performance; however, dual-tasking interfered with adaptation over the first few steps. Conversely, dual-tasking caused a decrement in cognitive performance in late middle-aged adults with no effect on adaptation. To determine if this effect was specific to adaptation, we also evaluated dual-task interference in late middle-aged adults that dual-tasked while walking in a complex environment that did not induce motor adaptation. This group exhibited less cognitive-motor interference than late middle-aged adults who dual-tasked during adaptation. Savings was unaffected by dual-tasking in both young and late middle-aged adults, which may indicate different underlying mechanisms for savings of reaching and walking. Collectively, our findings reveal an age-dependent effect of cognitive-motor interference during dual-task locomotor adaptation and no effect of dual-tasking on savings, regardless of age. Young adults maintain cognitive performance and show a mild decrement in locomotor adaptation, while late middle-aged adults adapt locomotion at the expense of cognitive performance.

scholarly journals Is Semantic Vigilance Impaired by Narrative Memory Demands? Theory and Applications

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-461
Author(s):  
Samantha L. Epling ◽  
Graham K. Edgar ◽  
Paul N. Russell ◽  
William S. Helton
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Vigilance Task ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Resource Theory ◽  
Vigilance Decrement ◽  
Dual Tasking

Objective: Two verbal tasks were utilized in a dual-task paradigm to explore performance theories and prior dual-tasking results. Background: Both the decline in vigilance performance over time, or vigilance decrement, and limited dual-tasking ability may be explained by limited mental resources. Resource theorists would recommend removing task demands to avoid cognitive overload, while mindlessness theorists may recommend adding engaging task demands to prevent boredom. Prior research demonstrated interference between a verbal free recall and semantic vigilance task, but exploring tasks with greater ecological validity is necessary. Method: A narrative memory task and semantic vigilance task were performed individually and simultaneously. Relative performance impairments were compared to a previous dual-task pairing. Results: The semantic vigilance task caused performance degradation to the narrative memory task and vice versa. A vigilance decrement was not observed, and the interference was to a lesser extent than when the semantic vigilance task was paired with a free recall task. Conclusion: Resource theory was supported, though passive learning effects during a semantic vigilance task with novel stimuli may prevent a vigilance decrement. The interference was less than that of a previous similar dual-task pairing, but even tasks as routine as listening to a conversation or story can impair other task performance. Application: A better understanding of resource theory and dual-task performance outcomes can help inform feasible task loads and improve efficiency and safety of operators in high-risk and other professions.

scholarly journals Resilience of Perceptual Metacognition in a Dual-Task Paradigm

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahiko Konishi ◽  
Clémence Compain ◽  
Bruno Berberian ◽  
Jérôme Sackur ◽  
Vincent de Gardelle
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Dual Tasking ◽  
Confidence Judgments ◽  
Dual Task Cost ◽  
Multiple Tasks ◽  
Dual Task Paradigm

When people do multiple tasks at the same time, it is often found that their performance is worse relative to when they do those same tasks in isolation. However, one aspect that has received little empirical attention, is whether the ability to monitor and evaluate one’s task performance is also affected by multitasking. How does dual-tasking affect metacognition and its relation to performance? We investigated this question through the use of a visual dual-task paradigm with confidence judgments. Participants categorized both the color and the motion direction of moving dots, and then rated their confidence in both responses. Across four experiments, participants (N=87) exhibited a clear dual-task cost at the perceptual level, while no cost at the metacognitive level. We discuss this resilience of metacognition to multitasking costs, and examine how our results fit onto current models of perceptual metacognition.

Does Secondary Task Measure Outcome Conflict or Resource Allocation?

1992 ◽  
Vol 36 (18) ◽  
pp. 1398-1402
Author(s):  
Pamela S. Tsang ◽  
Tonya L. Shaner
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Tracking Error ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Memory Probe ◽  
Temporal Predictability ◽  
Task Measure

The secondary task technique was used to test two alternative explanations of dual task decrement: outcome conflict and resource allocation. Subjects time-shared a continuous tracking task and a discrete Sternberg memory task. The memory probes were presented under three temporal predictability conditions. Dual task performance decrements in both the tracking and memory tasks suggested that the two tasks competed for some common resources, processes, or mechanisms. Although performance decrements were consistent with both the outcome conflict and resource allocation explanations, the two explanations propose different mechanisms by which the primary task could be protected from interference from the concurrent secondary task. The primary task performance could be protected by resource allocation or by strategic sequencing of the processing of the two tasks in order to avoid outcome conflict. In addition to examining the global trial means, moment-by-moment tracking error time-locked to the memory probe was also analyzed. There was little indication that the primary task was protected by resequencing of the processing of the two tasks. This together with the suggestion that predictable memory probes led to better protected primary task performance than less predictable memory probes lend support for the resource explanation.

scholarly journals The Association between High Neuroticism-Low Extraversion and Dual-Task Performance during Walking While Talking in Non-demented Older Adults

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 519-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany C. LeMonda ◽  
Jeannette R. Mahoney ◽  
Joe Verghese ◽  
Roee Holtzer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Gait Velocity ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Dual Task Performance

AbstractThe Walking While Talking (WWT) dual-task paradigm is a mobility stress test that predicts major outcomes, including falls, frailty, disability, and mortality in aging. Certain personality traits, such as neuroticism, extraversion, and their combination, have been linked to both cognitive and motor outcomes. We examined whether individual differences in personality dimensions of neuroticism and extraversion predicted dual-task performance decrements (both motor and cognitive) on a WWT task in non-demented older adults. We hypothesized that the combined effect of high neuroticism-low extraversion would be related to greater dual-task costs in gait velocity and cognitive performance in non-demented older adults. Participants (N=295; age range,=65–95 years; female=164) completed the Big Five Inventory and WWT task involving concurrent gait and a serial 7’s subtraction task. Gait velocity was obtained using an instrumented walkway. The high neuroticism-low extraversion group incurred greater dual-task costs (i.e., worse performance) in both gait velocity {95% confidence interval (CI) [−17.68 to −3.07]} and cognitive performance (95% CI [−19.34 to −2.44]) compared to the low neuroticism-high extraversion group, suggesting that high neuroticism-low extraversion interferes with the allocation of attentional resources to competing task demands during the WWT task. Older individuals with high neuroticism-low extraversion may be at higher risk for falls, mobility decline and other adverse outcomes in aging. (JINS, 2015, 21, 519–530)

scholarly journals Combining 3D-MOT With Sport Decision-Making for Perceptual-Cognitive Training in Virtual Reality

2019 ◽  
Vol 126 (5) ◽  
pp. 922-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Romeas ◽  
Romain Chaumillon ◽  
David Labbé ◽  
Jocelyn Faubert
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Training Conditions ◽  
Additional Task ◽  
Dual Task Paradigm ◽  
The Impact

This study introduces a virtual life-sized perceptual-cognitive training paradigm that combines three-dimensional multiple object tracking (3D-MOT) with motor (Experiment 1) or perceptual (Experiment 2) sport decision-making tasks. We sought to assess the impact of training on task performance and determine optimal training conditions for improvement and learning. Fifty-seven participants were randomly assigned to one of four training conditions (isolated 3D-MOT, 3D-MOT combined with a decision-making task, consolidated 3D-MOT later combined with a decision-making task, and isolated decision-making task). We evaluated task performance using speed thresholds, success rate (%), and reaction time (s). Findings were that the dual-task paradigm was associated with performance beyond chance level on both 3D-MOT and decision-making tasks despite an important dual-task cost. Interestingly, the results seemed to favor consolidated 3D-MOT training over simultaneous 3D-MOT training when combined with a motor decision-making task but not when combined with a perceptual decision-making task. The number of shared attentional resources in the nature of the additional task (i.e., perceptual or motor decision-making) seems to be key in interpreting the dual-task interference. These findings must be considered when designing representative multitask perceptual-cognitive training.

scholarly journals Dual Task Performance in Parkinson’s Disease

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Foley ◽  
Reiner Kaschel ◽  
Sergio Della Sala
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Neurodegenerative Disorders ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Dual Tasking ◽  
The People ◽  
Dual Task Performance

Several studies have found dual tasking to be impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but unaffected by healthy ageing. It is not known if this deficit is specific to AD, or also present in other neurodegenerative disorders that can occur in later life, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Therefore, this study investigated dual tasking in 13 people with PD, 26 AD and 42 healthy age-matched controls. The people with AD demonstrated a specific impairment in dual tasking, which worsened with increasing disease severity. The people with PD did not demonstrate any deficits in dual tasking ability, when compared to healthy controls, suggesting that the dual task impairment is specific to AD.

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