English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Background:  Postural control and cognition are affected by aging. We investigated whether cognitive distraction influenced neural activity differently in young and older adults during a game-like mediolateral weight-shifting task with a personalized task load.   Methods:  Seventeen healthy young and 17 older adults performed a balance game, involving hitting virtual wasps, serial subtractions and a combination of both (dual-task). A motion analysis system estimated each subject's center of mass position. Cortical activity in five regions was assessed by measuring oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO 2 ) with a functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy system.   Results:  When adding cognitive load to the game, weight-shifting speed decreased irrespective of age, but older adults reduced the wasp-hits more than young adults. Accompanying these changes, older adults decreased HbO 2  in the left pre-frontal cortex (PFC) and frontal eye fields (FEF) compared to single-tasking, a finding not seen in young adults. Additionally, lower HbO 2  levels were found during dual-tasking compared to the summed activation of the two single tasks in all regions except for the right PFC. These relative reductions were specific for the older age group in the left premotor cortex (PMC), the right supplementary motor area (SMA), and the left FEF.   Conclusion:  Older adults showed more compromised neural activity than young adults when adding a distraction to a challenging balance game. We interpret these changes as competitive downgrading of neural activity underpinning the age-related deterioration of game performance during dual-tasking. Future work needs to ascertain if older adults can train their neural flexibility to withstand balance challenges during daily life activities.

Compromised Brain Activity With Age During a Game-Like Dynamic Balance Task: Single- vs. Dual-Task Performance