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Increasing cognitive load attenuates right arm swing in healthy human walking
- Source :
- Royal Society Open Science, Vol 4, Iss 1 (2017), Royal Society Open Science
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- The Royal Society, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Human arm swing looks and feels highly automated, yet it is increasingly apparent that higher centres, including the cortex, are involved in many aspects of locomotor control. The addition of a cognitive task increases arm swing asymmetry during walking, but the characteristics and mechanism of this asymmetry are unclear. We hypothesized that this effect is lateralized and a Stroop word-colour naming task—primarily involving left hemisphere structures—would reduce right arm swing only. We recorded gait in 83 healthy subjects aged 18–80 walking normally on a treadmill and while performing a congruent and incongruent Stroop task. The primary measure of arm swing asymmetry—an index based on both three-dimensional wrist trajectories in which positive values indicate proportionally smaller movements on the right—increased significantly under dual-task conditions in those aged 40–59 and further still in the over-60s, driven by reduced right arm flexion. Right arm swing attenuation appears to be the norm in humans performing a locomotor-cognitive dual-task, confirming a prominent role of the brain in locomotor behaviour. Women under 60 are surprisingly resistant to this effect, revealing unexpected gender differences atop the hierarchical chain of locomotor control.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
medicine.medical_specialty
arm swing
Poison control
610 Medicine & health
Lateralization of brain function
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Physical medicine and rehabilitation
medicine
gender
motor control
cognitive control
Treadmill
lcsh:Science
dual-task
1000 Multidisciplinary
Multidisciplinary
musculoskeletal, neural, and ocular physiology
Motor control
Biology (Whole Organism)
Cognition
Swing
Gait
10040 Clinic for Neurology
central pattern generator
030104 developmental biology
Physical therapy
10046 Balgrist University Hospital, Swiss Spinal Cord Injury Center
lcsh:Q
Psychology
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Stroop effect
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20545703
- Volume :
- 4
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Royal Society Open Science
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....229615bf1f30e2e3388a34e53305195e