Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 1Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science and Technology in Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science and Technology in Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Basic Rehabilitation Sciences, School of Rehabilitation Sciences and Biomechanics Lab., Rehabilitation Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

4 Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Posture-cognition studies show that postural control is affected by cognitive task. Therefore, the effect of factors such as task difficulty is evaluated in dual-task paradigm but the impact of difficulty of cognitive and postural task on postural control remains inconclusive. The purpose of the present study was to examine the interaction effect of cognitive and postural tasks difficulty on postural control. Twenty healthy young volunteers (Mean age 22 ± 2.3 years) performed six random conditions while standing on a force platform. Conditions involved combinations of two level of postural task difficulty (standing on the floor and narrow base) and three level of cognitive task difficulty (without, easy and difficult cognitive tasks). Two way ANOVA (significant level p < 0.05) results demonstrated marked decrease in the standard deviation of the center of pressure in the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions for the difficult cognitive task condition in both postural task. (p < 0.05). Also, the easy cognitive task reduced the standard deviation of the center of pressure in the anterior-posterior direction in the narrow base standing condition (p < 0.05). According to the results of the present research, it seems that the difficult cognitive task requires a greater part of attention capacity; subsequently, attention is withdrawn from the postural task and automatic control regulates posture more efficiently through unconscious, fast, and reflexive processes. Also, postural control is simultaneously affected by the difficulty of postural and cognitive tasks. Therefore, in designing appropriate interventions, it seems necessary to pay attention to the interactive effects of posture and cognitive tasks.

Keywords

  1. Shumway-Cook A, Woollacott MH. Motor control: translating research into clinical practice: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2007.
  2. Woollacott M, Shumway-Cook A. Attention and the control of posture and gait: a review of an emerging area of research. Gait Posture. 2002;16(1):1-14.
  3. Potvin-Desrochers A, Richer N, Lajoie Y. Cognitive tasks promote automatization of postural control in young and older adults. Gait Posture. 2017;57:40-5.
  4. Siu K-C, Woollacott MH. Attentional demands of postural control: the ability to selectively allocate information-processing resources. Gait Posture. 2007;25(1):121-6.
  5. Barra J, Bray A, Sahni V, Golding JF, Gresty MA. Increasing cognitive load with increasing balance challenge: recipe for catastrophe. Exp Brain Res. 2006;174(4):734-45.
  6. Stins JF, Beek PJ. A critical evaluation of the cognitive penetrability of posture. Exp Aging Res. 2012;38(2):208-19.
  7. Stins JF, Roerdink M, Beek PJ. To freeze or not to freeze? Affective and cognitive perturbations have markedly different effects on postural control. Hum Mov Sci. 2011;30(2):190-202.
  8. Polskaia N, Richer N, Dionne E, Lajoie Y. Continuous cognitive task promotes greater postural stability than an internal or external focus of attention. Gait Posture. 2015;41(2):454-8.
  9. Richer N, Lajoie Y. Automaticity of postural control while dual-tasking revealed in young and older adults. Exp Aging Res. 2020;46(1):1-21.
  10. Wulf G, McNevin N, Shea CH. The automaticity of complex motor skill learning as a function of attentional focus. Q J Exp Psychol A. 2001;54(4):1143-54.
  11. Donker SF, Roerdink M, Greven AJ, Beek PJ. Regularity of center-of-pressure trajectories depends on the amount of attention invested in postural control. Exp Brain Res. 2007;181(1):1-11.
  12. Pellecchia GL. Postural sway increases with attentional demands of concurrent cognitive task. Gait Posture. 2003;18(1):29-34.
  13. Ceyte H, Lion A, Caudron S, Kriem B, Perrin PP, Gauchard GC. Does calculating impair postural stabilization allowed by visual cues? Exp Brain Res. 2014;232(7):2221-8.
  14. Lanzarin M, Parizzoto P, Libardoni TdC, Sinhorim L, Tavares GMS, Santos GM. The influence of dual-tasking on postural control in young adults. Fisioterapia e Pesquisa. 2015;22(1):61-8.
  15. Shumway-Cook A, Woollacott M. Attentional demands and postural control: the effect of sensory context. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2000;55(1):M10.
  16. Meng H-J, Luo S-S, Wang Y-G. The interplay between cognitive tasks and vision for upright posture balance in adolescents. PeerJ. 2019;7:e7693.
  17. Mitra S. Postural costs of suprapostural task load. Hum Mov Sci. 2003;22(3):253-70.
  18. Huxhold O, Li S-C, Schmiedek F, Lindenberger U. Dual-tasking postural control: aging and the effects of cognitive demand in conjunction with focus of attention. Brain Res Bull. 2006;69(3):294-305.
  19. Hunter MC, Hoffman MA. Postural control: visual and cognitive manipulations. Gait Posture. 2001;13(1):41-8.
  20. Yardley L, Gardner M, Bronstein A, Davies R, Buckwell D, Luxon L. Interference between postural control and mental task performance in patients with vestibular disorder and healthy controls. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2001;71(1):48-52.
  21. Polskaia N, Lajoie Y. Reducing postural sway by concurrently performing challenging cognitive tasks. Hum Mov Sci. 2016;46:177-83.
  22. Dault MC, Geurts AC, Mulder TW, Duysens J. Postural control and cognitive task performance in healthy participants while balancing on different support-surface configurations. Gait Posture. 2001;14(3):248-55.
  23. Stoffregen TA, Hove P, Bardy BG, Riley M, Bonnet CT. Postural stabilization of perceptual but not cognitive performance. J Mot Behav. 2007;39(2):126-38.
  24. Swan L, Otani H, Loubert PV. Reducing postural sway by manipulating the difficulty levels of a cognitive task and a balance task. Gait Posture. 2007;26(3):470-4.
  25. Cruz‐Montecinos C, Carrasco JJ, Guzmán-González B, Soto‐Arellano V, Calatayud J, Chimeno‐Hernández A, et al. Effects of performing dual tasks on postural sway and postural control complexity in people with haemophilic arthropathy. Haemophilia. 2020;26(3):e81-e7.
  26. Shafizadeh M, Parvinpour S, Balali M, Shabani M. Effects of age and task difficulty on postural sway, variability and complexity. Adaptive Behavior. 2020:1059712320963974.
  27. Horak FB, Nashner LM. Central programming of postural movements: adaptation to altered support-surface configurations. J Neurophysiol. 1986;55(6):1369-81.
  28. Hwang JH, Lee C-H, Chang HJ, Park D-S. Sequential analysis of postural control resource allocation during a dual task test. Ann Rehabil Med. 2013;37(3):347.
  29. Brauer S, Woollacott M, Shumway-Cook A. The influence of a concurrent cognitive task on the compensatory stepping response to a perturbation in balance-impaired and healthy elders. Gait Posture. 2002;15(1):83-93.
  30. Vander Velde T, Woollacott M. Non-visual spatial tasks reveal increased interactions with stance postural control. Brain Res. 2008;1208:95-102.
  31. St-Amant G, Rahman T, Polskaia N, Fraser S, Lajoie Y. Unveilling the cerebral and sensory contributions to automatic postural control during dual-task standing. Hum Mov Sci. 2020;70:102587.
  32. Richer N, Saunders D, Polskaia N, Lajoie Y. The effects of attentional focus and cognitive tasks on postural sway may be the result of automaticity. Gait Posture. 2017;54:45-9.
  33. Ghai S, Ghai I, Effenberg AO. Effects of dual tasks and dual-task training on postural stability: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Interv Aging. 2017;12:557.
  34. Gebel A, Lehmann T, Granacher U. Balance task difficulty affects postural sway and cortical activity in healthy adolescents. Exp Brain Res. 2020;238(5):1323-33.
  35. Hsu W-L, Lin K-H, Yang R-S, Cheng C-H. Use of motor abundance in old adults in the regulation of a narrow-based stance. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2014;114(2):261-71.
  36. Krishnamoorthy V, Yang J-F, Scholz JP. Joint coordination during quiet stance: effects of vision. Exp Brain Res. 2005;164(1):1-17.