Effects of a secondary task on obstacle avoidance in healthy young adults

Ka-Chun Siu; Robert D Catena; Li-Shan Chou; Paul van Donkelaar; Marjorie H Woollacott

doi:10.1007/s00221-007-1087-9

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Effects of a secondary task on obstacle avoidance in healthy young adults

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Effects of a secondary task on obstacle avoidance in healthy young adults

Ka-Chun Siu, Robert D Catena, Li-Shan Chou, Paul van Donkelaar and Marjorie H Woollacott

Experimental brain research, Vol.184(1), pp.115-120

01/2008

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-1087-9

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/2376/100761

PMCID: PMC2556305

PMID: 17717655

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-007-1087-9View

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Abstract

Humans

Spatial Behavior - physiology

Male

Reaction Time

Cognition

Avoidance Learning - physiology

Gait - physiology

Posture

Walking - physiology

Space Perception - physiology

Attention - physiology

Locomotion

Adult

Female

Task Performance and Analysis

Voice

Research on attention and gait stability has suggested that the process of recovering gait stability requires attentional resources, but the effect of performing a secondary task on stability during obstacle avoidance is poorly understood. Using a dual-task paradigm, the present experiment investigated the extent to which young adults are able to respond to a secondary auditory Stroop task (requiring executive attentional network resources) concurrently with obstacle crossing during gait when compared with performing unobstructed walking or sitting (control task). Our results demonstrated that as the level of difficulty in the postural task increased, there was a significant reduction in verbal response time from congruent to incongruent conditions in the auditory Stroop task, but no differences in gait parameters, indicating that these postural tasks require attention, and that young adults use a strategy of modulating the auditory Stroop task performance while keeping stable gait performance under the dual-task situations. Our findings suggest the existence of a hierarchy of control within both postural task (obstacle avoidance requires the most information processing resources) and dual-task (with gait stability being a priority) conditions.

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Details

Title: Effects of a secondary task on obstacle avoidance in healthy young adults
Creators: Ka-Chun Siu - HPER Biomechanics Laboratory, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182, USA. ksiu@mail.unomaha.edu
Robert D Catena
Li-Shan Chou
Paul van Donkelaar
Marjorie H Woollacott
Publication Details: Experimental brain research, Vol.184(1), pp.115-120
Academic Unit: UNKNOWN
Publisher: Germany
Grant note: R01 AG021598-04 / NIA NIH HHS R01 AG021598 / NIA NIH HHS AG-021598 / NIA NIH HHS
Identifiers: 99900546786601842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article