TY - GEN A1 - Stelzel, Christine A1 - Schauenburg, Gesche A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Granacher, Urs T1 - Age-Related Interference between the Selection of Input-Output Modality Mappings and Postural Control BT - a Pilot Study N2 - Age-related decline in executive functions and postural control due to degenerative processes in the central nervous system have been related to increased fall-risk in old age. Many studies have shown cognitive-postural dual-task interference in old adults, but research on the role of specific executive functions in this context has just begun. In this study, we addressed the question whether postural control is impaired depending on the coordination of concurrent response-selection processes related to the compatibility of input and output modality mappings as compared to impairments related to working-memory load in the comparison of cognitive dual and single tasks. Specifically, we measured total center of pressure (CoP) displacements in healthy female participants aged 19–30 and 66–84 years while they performed different versions of a spatial one-back working memory task during semi-tandem stance on an unstable surface (i.e., balance pad) while standing on a force plate. The specific working-memory tasks comprised: (i) modality compatible single tasks (i.e., visual-manual or auditory-vocal tasks), (ii) modality compatible dual tasks (i.e., visual-manual and auditory-vocal tasks), (iii) modality incompatible single tasks (i.e., visual-vocal or auditory-manual tasks), and (iv) modality incompatible dual tasks (i.e., visual-vocal and auditory-manual tasks). In addition, participants performed the same tasks while sitting. As expected from previous research, old adults showed generally impaired performance under high working-memory load (i.e., dual vs. single one-back task). In addition, modality compatibility affected one-back performance in dual-task but not in single-task conditions with strikingly pronounced impairments in old adults. Notably, the modality incompatible dual task also resulted in a selective increase in total CoP displacements compared to the modality compatible dual task in the old but not in the young participants. These results suggest that in addition to effects of working-memory load, processes related to simultaneously overcoming special linkages between input- and output modalities interfere with postural control in old but not in young female adults. Our preliminary data provide further evidence for the involvement of cognitive control processes in postural tasks. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 322 KW - aging KW - cognitive-postural dual task KW - modality compatibility KW - postural stability KW - working memory Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-395733 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Bohle, Hannah A1 - Rimpel, Jérôme A1 - Schauenburg, Gesche A1 - Gebel, Arnd A1 - Stelzel, Christine A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Granacher, Urs T1 - Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Cognitive-Motor Interference during Multitasking in Young and Old Adults T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The concurrent performance of cognitive and postural tasks is particularly impaired in old adults and associated with an increased risk of falls. Biological aging of the cognitive and postural control system appears to be responsible for increased cognitive-motor interference effects. We examined neural and behavioral markers of motor-cognitive dual-task performance in young and old adults performing spatial one-back working memory single and dual tasks during semitandem stance. On the neural level, we used EEG to test for age-related modulations in the frequency domain related to cognitive-postural task load. Twenty-eight healthy young and 30 old adults participated in this study. The tasks included a postural single task, a cognitive-postural dual task, and a cognitive-postural triple task (cognitive dual-task with postural demands). Postural sway (i.e., total center of pressure displacements) was recorded in semistance position on an unstable surface that was placed on top of a force plate while performing cognitive tasks. Neural activation was recorded using a 64-channel mobile EEG system. EEG frequencies were attenuated by the baseline postural single-task condition and demarcated in nine Regions-of-Interest (ROIs), i.e., anterior, central, posterior, over the cortical midline, and both hemispheres. Our findings revealed impaired cognitive dual-task performance in old compared to young participants in the form of significantly lower cognitive performance in the triple-task condition. Furthermore, old adults compared with young adults showed significantly larger postural sway, especially in cognitive-postural task conditions. With respect to EEG frequencies, young compared to old participants showed significantly lower alpha-band activity in cognitive-cognitive-postural triple-task conditions compared with cognitive-postural dual tasks. In addition, with increasing task difficulty, we observed synchronized theta and delta frequencies, irrespective of age. Taskdependent alterations of the alpha frequency band were most pronounced over frontal and central ROIs, while alterations of the theta and delta frequency bands were found in frontal, central, and posterior ROIs. Theta and delta synchronization exhibited a decrease from anterior to posterior regions. For old adults, task difficulty was reflected by theta synchronization in the posterior ROI. For young adults, it was reflected by alpha desynchronization in bilateral anterior ROIs. In addition, we could not identify any effects of task difficulty and age on the beta frequency band. Our results shed light on age-related cognitive and postural declines and how they interact. Modulated alpha frequencies during high cognitive-postural task demands in young but not old adults might be reflective of a constrained neural adaptive potential in old adults. Future studies are needed to elucidate associations between the identified age-related performance decrements with task difficulty and changes in brain activity. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 563 Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-435972 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 563 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Stelzel, Christine A1 - Bohle, Hannah A1 - Schauenburg, Gesche A1 - Walter, Henrik A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Heinzel, Stephan T1 - Contribution of the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex to Cognitive-Postural Multitasking T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - There is evidence for cortical contribution to the regulation of human postural control. Interference from concurrently performed cognitive tasks supports this notion, and the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) has been suggested to play a prominent role in the processing of purely cognitive as well as cognitive-postural dual tasks. The degree of cognitive-motor interference varies greatly between individuals, but it is unresolved whether individual differences in the recruitment of specific lPFC regions during cognitive dual tasking are associated with individual differences in cognitive-motor interference. Here, we investigated inter-individual variability in a cognitive-postural multitasking situation in healthy young adults (n = 29) in order to relate these to inter-individual variability in lPFC recruitment during cognitive multitasking. For this purpose, a oneback working memory task was performed either as single task or as dual task in order to vary cognitive load. Participants performed these cognitive single and dual tasks either during upright stance on a balance pad that was placed on top of a force plate or during fMRI measurement with little to no postural demands. We hypothesized dual one-back task performance to be associated with lPFC recruitment when compared to single one-back task performance. In addition, we expected individual variability in lPFC recruitment to be associated with postural performance costs during concurrent dual one-back performance. As expected, behavioral performance costs in postural sway during dual-one back performance largely varied between individuals and so did lPFC recruitment during dual one-back performance. Most importantly, individuals who recruited the right mid-lPFC to a larger degree during dual one-back performance also showed greater postural sway as measured by larger performance costs in total center of pressure displacements. This effect was selective to the high-load dual one-back task and suggests a crucial role of the right lPFC in allocating resources during cognitivemotor interference. Our study provides further insight into the mechanisms underlying cognitive-motor multitasking and its impairments. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 489 KW - balance KW - dual task KW - fMRI KW - postural control KW - working memory Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-421140 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 489 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kuschpel, Maxim S. A1 - Liu, Shuyan A1 - Schad, Daniel A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Heinz, Andreas A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin T1 - Differential effects of wakeful rest, music and video game playing on working memory performance in the n-back task N2 - The interruption of learning processes by breaks filled with diverse activities is common in everyday life. We investigated the effects of active computer gaming and passive relaxation (rest and music) breaks on working memory performance. Young adults were exposed to breaks involving (i) eyes-open resting, (ii) listening to music and (iii) playing the video game “Angry Birds” before performing the n-back working memory task. Based on linear mixed-effects modeling, we found that playing the “Angry Birds” video game during a short learning break led to a decline in task performance over the course of the task as compared to eyes-open resting and listening to music, although overall task performance was not impaired. This effect was associated with high levels of daily mind wandering and low self-reported ability to concentrate. These findings indicate that video games can negatively affect working memory performance over time when played in between learning tasks. We suggest further investigation of these effects because of their relevance to everyday activity. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 280 KW - attention KW - break interventions KW - cognitive resources KW - computer games KW - mind wandering KW - mozart effect KW - working memory Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-85151 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Rimpel, Jérôme A1 - Stelzel, Christine A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin T1 - Transfer Effects to a Multimodal Dual-Task after Working Memory Training and Associated Neural Correlates in Older Adults BT - A Pilot Study N2 - Working memory (WM) performance declines with age. However, several studies have shown that WM training may lead to performance increases not only in the trained task, but also in untrained cognitive transfer tasks. It has been suggested that transfer effects occur if training task and transfer task share specific processing components that are supposedly processed in the same brain areas. In the current study, we investigated whether single-task WM training and training-related alterations in neural activity might support performance in a dual-task setting, thus assessing transfer effects to higher-order control processes in the context of dual-task coordination. A sample of older adults (age 60–72) was assigned to either a training or control group. The training group participated in 12 sessions of an adaptive n-back training. At pre and post-measurement, a multimodal dual-task was performed in all participants to assess transfer effects. This task consisted of two simultaneous delayed match to sample WM tasks using two different stimulus modalities (visual and auditory) that were performed either in isolation (single-task) or in conjunction (dual-task). A subgroup also participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the performance of the n-back task before and after training. While no transfer to single-task performance was found, dual-task costs in both the visual modality (p < 0.05) and the auditory modality (p < 0.05) decreased at post-measurement in the training but not in the control group. In the fMRI subgroup of the training participants, neural activity changes in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during one-back predicted post-training auditory dual-task costs, while neural activity changes in right DLPFC during three-back predicted visual dual-task costs. Results might indicate an improvement in central executive processing that could facilitate both WM and dual-task coordination. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 343 KW - aging KW - cognitive training KW - dual-task KW - fMRI KW - modality KW - neuroimaging KW - transfer KW - working memory Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401921 ER -