Neuroscience
Alexander NB, Ashton-Miller JA, Giordani B, Guire K, & Schultz AB. Age differences in timed accurate stepping with increasing cognitive and visual demand: A walking trail making test. Jounal of Gerontology: A Biological Sciences and Med Sciences. 2005 Dec; 60(12): 1558-1562.
BACKGROUND: Impaired vision, cognition, and divided attention performance predict falls. Requiring both visual and cognitive input, the ability to step accurately is necessary to safely traverse challenging terrain conditions such as uneven or slippery surfaces. We compared healthy young and older adults in the time taken to step accurately under conditions of increasing cognitive and visual demand. METHODS: Healthy Young (n = 42, mean age 21) and Older (n = 37, mean age 70) participants were required to step accurately on an instrumented walkway under conditions of increasing visual and cognitive demand. Based on the paper-and-pencil neuropsychological test, the Trail Making Test (P-TMT) A and B, participants stepped on instrumented targets with increasing sequential numbers (Walking Trail Making Test A [W-TMT A]) and increasing sequential numbers and letters (Walking Trail Making Test B [W-TMT B]), under conditions of Low as well as Normal lighting. RESULTS: W-TMT performance time increased with increased age (Older vs Young), decreased light (Low vs Normal), and increased cognitive demand (Trails B vs Trails A). W-TMT performance time was disproportionately increased in Low light and in the Older group under the highest cognitive demand (W-TMT B) conditions. Paired W-TMT A-B differences were three times higher in the Older group than in the Young group. In the Older group, the correlation between W-TMT results and P-TMT B was particularly strong (p <.001). CONCLUSIONS: The time to perform a stepping accuracy task, such as may be required to avoid environmental hazards, increases under reduced lighting and with increased cognitive demand, the latter disproportionately so in older adults.
PMID: 16424288 [PubMed - in process]
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Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain
- Among The Elderly, Slower Walkers Have Slower Brains
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Psychometric data relevant to the use of common neuropsychological cognitive test instruments are presented and discussed in the current issue of the journal, The Clinical Neuropsychologist (Volume 19, Issue 3-4; September-December 2005). The issue deals...
- Abstract Of The Day: Basic Sensory Issues In Good Diagnostic Approaches
Valentijn SA, van Boxtel MP, van Hooren SA, Bosma H, Beckers HJ, Ponds RW, Jolles J. Change in sensory functioning predicts change in cognitive functioning: Results from a 6-year follow-up in the Maastricht aging study. Journal of the American Geriatrics...
Neuroscience
Abstract of the Day: Cognitive Demands on Functional Decisions
Alexander NB, Ashton-Miller JA, Giordani B, Guire K, & Schultz AB. Age differences in timed accurate stepping with increasing cognitive and visual demand: A walking trail making test. Jounal of Gerontology: A Biological Sciences and Med Sciences. 2005 Dec; 60(12): 1558-1562.
BACKGROUND: Impaired vision, cognition, and divided attention performance predict falls. Requiring both visual and cognitive input, the ability to step accurately is necessary to safely traverse challenging terrain conditions such as uneven or slippery surfaces. We compared healthy young and older adults in the time taken to step accurately under conditions of increasing cognitive and visual demand. METHODS: Healthy Young (n = 42, mean age 21) and Older (n = 37, mean age 70) participants were required to step accurately on an instrumented walkway under conditions of increasing visual and cognitive demand. Based on the paper-and-pencil neuropsychological test, the Trail Making Test (P-TMT) A and B, participants stepped on instrumented targets with increasing sequential numbers (Walking Trail Making Test A [W-TMT A]) and increasing sequential numbers and letters (Walking Trail Making Test B [W-TMT B]), under conditions of Low as well as Normal lighting. RESULTS: W-TMT performance time increased with increased age (Older vs Young), decreased light (Low vs Normal), and increased cognitive demand (Trails B vs Trails A). W-TMT performance time was disproportionately increased in Low light and in the Older group under the highest cognitive demand (W-TMT B) conditions. Paired W-TMT A-B differences were three times higher in the Older group than in the Young group. In the Older group, the correlation between W-TMT results and P-TMT B was particularly strong (p <.001). CONCLUSIONS: The time to perform a stepping accuracy task, such as may be required to avoid environmental hazards, increases under reduced lighting and with increased cognitive demand, the latter disproportionately so in older adults.
PMID: 16424288 [PubMed - in process]
-
Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain
- Among The Elderly, Slower Walkers Have Slower Brains
Older people who walk more slowly also perform less well on tests of mental performance - an association researchers say could prove useful for diagnosis and therapeutic interventions. Having excluded participants with major neurological impairment or...
- Neuropsychology Abstract Of The Day: A Curious Dual-task Study
Decrease in gait variability while counting backward: a marker of "magnet effect"? Journal of Neural Transmission. 2010 Oct; 117(10): 1171-1176 Beauchet O, Allali G, Poujol L, Barthelemy JC, Roche F, Annweiler C Abstract Counting backward (CB) and walking...
- Neuropsychology Abstract Of The Day: Gaming And Executive Control In Older Adults
Space Fortress game training and executive control in older adults: A pilot intervention Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2011 Oct 12; Stern Y, Blumen HM, Rich LW, Richards A, Herzberg G, Gopher D Abstract ABSTRACT We investigated the...
- Neuropsychology Assessment Of Elderly Persons
Psychometric data relevant to the use of common neuropsychological cognitive test instruments are presented and discussed in the current issue of the journal, The Clinical Neuropsychologist (Volume 19, Issue 3-4; September-December 2005). The issue deals...
- Abstract Of The Day: Basic Sensory Issues In Good Diagnostic Approaches
Valentijn SA, van Boxtel MP, van Hooren SA, Bosma H, Beckers HJ, Ponds RW, Jolles J. Change in sensory functioning predicts change in cognitive functioning: Results from a 6-year follow-up in the Maastricht aging study. Journal of the American Geriatrics...