TY  - GEN
A1  - Brahms, Markus
A1  - Heinzel, Stephan
A1  - Rapp, Michael A.
A1  - Mückstein, Marie
A1  - Hortobágyi, Tibor
A1  - Stelzel, Christine
A1  - Granacher, Urs
T1  - The acute effects of mental fatigue on balance performance in healthy young and older adults – A systematic review and meta-analysis
T2  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - Cognitive resources contribute to balance control. There is evidence that mental fatigue reduces cognitive resources and impairs balance performance, particularly in older adults and when balance tasks are complex, for example when trying to walk or stand while concurrently performing a secondary cognitive task.

We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed (MEDLINE), Web of Science and Google Scholar to identify eligible studies and performed a random effects meta-analysis to quantify the effects of experimentally induced mental fatigue on balance performance in healthy adults. Subgroup analyses were computed for age (healthy young vs. healthy older adults) and balance task complexity (balance tasks with high complexity vs. balance tasks with low complexity) to examine the moderating effects of these factors on fatigue-mediated balance performance.

We identified 7 eligible studies with 9 study groups and 206 participants. Analysis revealed that performing a prolonged cognitive task had a small but significant effect (SMDwm = −0.38) on subsequent balance performance in healthy young and older adults. However, age- and task-related differences in balance responses to fatigue could not be confirmed statistically.

Overall, aggregation of the available literature indicates that mental fatigue generally reduces balance in healthy adults. However, interactions between cognitive resource reduction, aging and balance task complexity remain elusive.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 779 
KW  - Cognitive fatigue
KW  - Exertion
KW  - Tiredness
KW  - Postural control
KW  - Gait
KW  - Sway
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-561560
SN  - 1866-8364
SP  - 1
EP  - 13
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Beurskens, Rainer
A1  - Mühlbauer, Thomas
A1  - Granacher, Urs
T1  - Association of dual-task walking performance and leg muscle quality in healthy children
N2  - Background

Previous literature mainly introduced cognitive functions to explain performance decrements in dual-task walking, i.e., changes in dual-task locomotion are attributed to limited cognitive information processing capacities. In this study, we enlarge existing literature and investigate whether leg muscular capacity plays an additional role in children’s dual-task walking performance.

Methods

To this end, we had prepubescent children (mean age: 8.7 ± 0.5 years, age range: 7–9 years) walk in single task (ST) and while concurrently conducting an arithmetic subtraction task (DT). Additionally, leg lean tissue mass was assessed.

Results

Findings show that both, boys and girls, significantly decrease their gait velocity (f = 0.73), stride length (f = 0.62) and cadence (f = 0.68) and increase the variability thereof (f = 0.20-0.63) during DT compared to ST. Furthermore, stepwise regressions indicate that leg lean tissue mass is closely associated with step time and the variability thereof during DT (R2 = 0.44, p = 0.009). These associations between gait measures and leg lean tissue mass could not be observed for ST (R2 = 0.17, p = 0.19).

Conclusion

We were able to show a potential link between leg muscular capacities and DT walking performance in children. We interpret these findings as evidence that higher leg muscle mass in children may mitigate the impact of a cognitive interference task on DT walking performance by inducing enhanced gait stability.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 270 
KW  - Gait
KW  - Cognitive interference
KW  - Body composition
KW  - Muscle mass
KW  - Children
Y1  - 2015
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-75100
ER  -