Impact of Attentional Loading and Task Constraints on Postural Control of Healthy Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-25
Author(s):  
Eryk Przysucha ◽  
Brontë A. Vollebregt ◽  
Carlos Zerpa
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Quiet Standing ◽  
Support Surface ◽  
Task Constraints ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Practical Standpoint ◽  
Support Surfaces ◽  
Attentional Tasks

Postural control is attention demanding, and it may be jeopardized when a secondary cognitive task is involved, particularly for older adults. The magnitude of this interference depends on different individual (perceptuo-motor status), task (single vs. dual tasking), and environmental constraints (support surface). The purpose of this research was to examine if older adults may be affected by various types of secondary cognitive tasks, while maintaining quiet standing on different support surfaces. In line with conceptual models, the results indicated that postural control of older adults was compromised when they were required to dual-task, especially when the support surface was challenging. This was a robust finding across all the measures of COP. In regards to the degree to which different attentional tasks affected postural control, the results remained equivocal. From a practical standpoint, the results indicated that older adults should exhibit caution when simultaneously performing a balance and a cognitive task involved particularly when the surface is unsteady.

scholarly journals Motor Adaptation to Cognitive Challenges and Destabilizing Treadmill Walking in Healthy Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 523-523
Author(s):  
Pei-Chun Kao ◽  
Michaela Pierro
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Trunk Motion ◽  
Visual Color ◽  
Stability Data ◽  
Serial Addition ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
Perturbed Walking

Abstract To develop effective fall prevention intervention, it is necessary to understand how older adults respond to challenges that demand cognitive-motor dual-tasking capability, an important capability in the daily lives. The purpose of this study is to investigate how older adults adjust their motor responses when encountering cognitive and walking perturbations simultaneously. We recorded kinematic data as subjects walked on a treadmill with or without 1) continuous random-amplitude treadmill platform sways (Perturbed vs. No-perturbed walking); and 2) each of the four cognitive tasks: Paced Auditory Serial Addition test (PASAT), clock test, visual color-word incongruent test (V-stroop), and auditory pitch-word incongruent test (A-stroop). We computed dynamic margins of stability (MOS), gait variability, and short-term local divergence exponent (LDE) of the trunk motion (local stability). Data of ten older subjects (age: 72.2±4.9) show that cognitive performance did not differ between standing, Perturbed or No-perturbed walking. Subjects demonstrated significantly greater local instability and variability in step measures, joint angle and MOS during Perturbed than No-perturbed walking (p<0.001). During dual-task conditions, subjects walked with significantly larger medio-lateral MOS (MOSML) compared to walking only, especially during early phase of the trial. During Perturbed walking, subjects had significantly larger MOSML during PASAT and Vstroop than walking only. Our data showed that subjects tried to increase their dynamic MOS during Perturbed walking or a cognitive task more difficult or taxing visual attention. However, the adjustments do not sustain throughout the trial. These findings suggest older adults tend to prioritize cognitive over walking tasks even when encountering walking perturbations.

Postural Control In Quiet Standing With A Concurrent Cognitive Task In Psychotic Conditions

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 279-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Katrin Stensdotter ◽  
Anne Kristin Wanvik ◽  
Håvard W. Lorås
Keyword(s):  
Postural Control ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Quiet Standing

POSTURAL CONTROL IN HEALTHY OLDER ADULTS

2006 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 199-200
Author(s):  
K. W. OʼConnor ◽  
P. J. Loughlin ◽  
M. S. Redfern ◽  
P. J. Sparto
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Healthy Older Adults

scholarly journals Automatic Quantification of Tandem Walking Using a Wearable Device: New Insights Into Dynamic Balance and Mobility in Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-107
Author(s):  
Natalie Ganz ◽  
Eran Gazit ◽  
Nir Giladi ◽  
Robert J Dawe ◽  
Anat Mirelman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Dynamic Balance ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Sensor Data ◽  
Quiet Standing ◽  
Mobility Disability ◽  
Community Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract Background Wearable sensors are increasingly employed to quantify diverse aspects of mobility. We developed novel tandem walking (TW) metrics, validated these measures using data from community-dwelling older adults, and evaluated their association with mobility disability and measures of gait and postural control. Methods Six hundred ninety-three community-dwelling older adults (age: 78.69 ± 7.12 years) wore a 3D accelerometer on their lower back while performing 3 tasks: TW, usual-walking, and quiet standing. Six new measures of TW were extracted from the sensor data along with the clinician’s conventional assessment of TW missteps (ie, trip other loss of balance in which recovery occurred to prevent a fall) and duration. Principal component analysis transformed the 6 new TW measures into 2 summary TW composite factors. Logistic regression models evaluated whether these TW factors were independently associated with mobility disability. Results Both TW factors were moderately related to the TW conventional measures (r < 0.454, p < .001) and were mildly correlated with usual-walking (r < 0.195, p < .001) and standing, postural control (r < 0.119, p < .001). The TW frequency composite factor (p = .008), but not TW complexity composite factor (p = .246), was independently associated with mobility disability in a model controlling for age, sex, body mass index, race, conventional measures of TW, and other measures of gait and postural control. Conclusions Sensor-derived TW metrics expand the characterization of gait and postural control and suggest that they reflect a relatively independent domain of mobility. Further work is needed to determine if these metrics improve risk stratification for other adverse outcomes (eg, falls and incident disability) in older adults.

Intermittent use of an “anchor system” improves postural control in healthy older adults

2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena de Bem Zavanella Freitas ◽  
Eliane Mauerberg-deCastro ◽  
Renato Moraes
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Anchor System

Effect of the muscle coactivation during quiet standing on dynamic postural control in older adults

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koutatsu Nagai ◽  
Minoru Yamada ◽  
Shuhei Mori ◽  
Buichi Tanaka ◽  
Kazuki Uemura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Quiet Standing

scholarly journals HoppingExercise Training Improves Postural Control in Healthy Older Adults

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (5S) ◽  
pp. 364
Author(s):  
Toshiaki Nakatani ◽  
Kazufumi Terada ◽  
Koji Kawakami ◽  
Kazuki Kino ◽  
Mika Imai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Healthy Older Adults

scholarly journals Hypothetical control of postural sway

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (176) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhur Mangalam ◽  
Damian G. Kelty-Stephen
Keyword(s):  
Postural Control ◽  
Postural Sway ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Quiet Standing ◽  
Task Constraints ◽  
Pdf Analysis ◽  
Inertial Control ◽  
Non Gaussian ◽  
Engagement And Disengagement ◽  
Linear Decay

Quiet standing exhibits strongly intermittent variability that has inspired at least two interpretations. First, variability can be intermittent through the alternating engagement and disengagement of complementary control processes at distinct scales. A second and perhaps deeper way to interpret this intermittency is through the possibility that postural control depends on cascade-like interactions across many timescales at once, suggesting specific non-Gaussian distributional properties at different timescales. Multiscale probability density function (PDF) analysis shows that quiet standing on a stable surface exhibits a crossover from low, increasing non-Gaussianity (consistent with exponential distributions) at shorter timescales, reflecting inertial control, towards higher non-Gaussianity. Feedback-based control at medium to longer timescales yields a linear decrease that is characteristic of cascade dynamics. Destabilizing quiet standing with an unstable surface or closed eyes serves to attenuate inertial control and to elicit more of the feedback-based control over progressively shorter timescales. The result was to strengthen the appearance of the linear decay indicating cascade dynamics. Finally, both linear and nonlinear indices of postural sway also govern the relative strength of crossover or of linear decay, suggesting that tempering of non-Gaussianity across log-timescale is a function of both extrinsic constraints and endogenous postural control. These results provide new evidence that cascading interactions across longer timescales supporting postural corrections can even recruit shorter timescale processes with novel task constraints that can destabilize posture.

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