TY  - JOUR
A1  - Beurskens, Rainer
A1  - Helmich, Ingo
A1  - Rein, Robert
A1  - Bock, Otmar L.
T1  - Age-related changes in prefrontal activity during walking in dual-task situations: A fNIRS study
JF  - International journal of psychophysiology
N2  - Background: Previous studies suggest that the human gait is under control of higher-order cognitive processes, located in the frontal lobes, such that an age-related degradation of cognitive capabilities has a negative impact on gait.
 Results: Our behavioral data partly confirm previous accounts on higher dual-task costs in stepping parameters (i.e., decreased step duration) in old age, particularly with a visual task and negative dual-task cost (i.e., improved performance) during the verbal task in young adults. Functional imaging data revealed little change of prefrontal activation from single- to dual-task walking in young individuals. In the elderly, however, prefrontal activation substantially decreased during dual-task walking with a complex visual task.
 Conclusion: We interpret these findings as evidence for a shift of processing resources from the prefrontal cortex to other brain regions when seniors face the challenge of walking and concurrently executing a visually demanding task. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW  - fNIRS
KW  - Aging
KW  - Locomotion
KW  - Neural activation
KW  - Executive function
KW  - Dual-task walking
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.03.005
SN  - 0167-8760
SN  - 1872-7697
VL  - 92
IS  - 3
SP  - 122
EP  - 128
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -