Task prioritization in aging: effects of sensory information on concurrent posture and memory performance
Task prioritization in aging: effects of sensory information on concurrent posture and memory performance
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DOI：
10.1007/s00221-008-1302-3
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发表时间：
2008-05-01
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Krampe, Ralf Th.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Doumas, Michail;Smolders, Caroline;Krampe, Ralf Th.
在老年人中，认知资源在维持姿势稳定性方面起着关键作用。在本研究中，我们评估了使用摇摆参考增加姿势不稳定是否会导致双任务表现中资源分配的变化，从而导致老年人优先考虑与年龄相关的姿势任务，而不是认知任务。年轻人和老年人参加了这项研究，其中包括两个会议。在第一届会议上，三个姿势任务（稳定，摇摆参考视觉，摇摆参考体感）和工作记忆任务（n-回）进行了检查。在第二次会议上，单和双任务的姿势和记忆的性能进行了评估。姿势稳定性随着会话而改善。参与者在摇摆参考条件下更不稳定，在体感摇摆参考条件下观察到明显的年龄差异。在稳定表面上的双任务表现中，老年人的不稳定性比单任务增加了近40%。然而，在摇摆参考体感条件下，稳定性是相同的，在单任务和双任务的性能，而显着（15%）的成本出现认知。这些结果表明，在双任务，而站在一个稳定的表面上，老年人有灵活性，允许增加不稳定性，以适应认知任务的性能。然而，当不稳定性增加的手段，损害体感信息，姿势控制水平保持类似的单任务和双任务，利用资源，否则分配给认知任务。这一证据强调了资源分配的灵活性，在整个生命周期中发展，以弥补与年龄相关的感觉运动和认知处理的下降。
In older adults, cognitive resources play a key role in maintaining postural stability. In the present study, we evaluated whether increasing postural instability using sway referencing induces changes in resource allocation in dual-task performance leading older adults to prioritize the more age-salient posture task over a cognitive task. Young and older adults participated in the study which comprised two sessions. In the first session, three posture tasks (stable, sway reference visual, sway reference somatosensory) and a working memory task (n-back) were examined. In the second session, single- and dual-task performance of posture and memory were assessed. Postural stability improved with session. Participants were more unstable in the sway reference conditions, and pronounced age differences were observed in the somatosensory sway reference condition. In dual-task performance on the stable surface, older adults showed an almost 40% increase in instability compared to single-task. However, in the sway reference somatosensory condition, stability was the same in single- and dual-task performance, whereas pronounced (15%) costs emerged for cognition. These results show that during dual-tasking while standing on a stable surface, older adults have the flexibility to allow an increase in instability to accommodate cognitive task performance. However, when instability increases by means of compromising somatosensory information, levels of postural control are kept similar in single- and dual-task, by utilizing resources otherwise allocated to the cognitive task. This evidence emphasizes the flexible nature of resource allocation, developed over the life-span to compensate for age-related decline in sensorimotor and cognitive processing.