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Is the strong desire to void a source of diverted attention in healthy adult volunteers?
Author(s) -
Gibson William,
Morrison Rachael,
Wagg Adrian,
Hunter Kathleen F.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
neurourology and urodynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1520-6777
pISSN - 0733-2467
DOI - 10.1002/nau.24201
Subject(s) - distraction , medicine , lower urinary tract symptoms , cognition , audiology , sensation , psychology , cognitive psychology , psychiatry , prostate , cancer
Aims The strong desire to void (SDV) induces changes in both cognition and gait. This may be due to the sensation of urinary urge acting as a source of diverted attention. This exploratory study examined the influence of SDV and a standardized distracting task on the performance of two measures of cognition, a simple reaction time (SRT) test and the trail making B test (TMT‐B). Methods 18 volunteers, 8 male and 10 female, without lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) (mean age: 20.5, range: 20‐47), performed a test of SRT and the TMT‐B under three conditions; undistracted with an empty bladder, while experiencing SDV, and when performing a simultaneous distracting task, the auditory n back test. Results A statistically significant increase in SRT was found when experiencing SDV and when distracted compared with the undistracted, bladder empty condition. The time taken to compete the TMT‐B significantly increased with distraction but was not affected by SDV. Conclusion SDV induced a similar but smaller change in reaction time when compared with a distracting task, suggesting that SDV may act as a source of diverted attention in continent, healthy volunteers.