Open Access
68
BackgroundThe aim of the study was to assess the attentional requirements of steady state treadmill walking in human subjects using a dual task paradigm. The extent of decrement of a secondary (cognitive) RT task provides a measure of the attentional resources required to maintain performance of the primary (locomotor) task. Varying the level of difficulty of the reaction time (RT) task is used to verify the priority of allocation of attentional resources.Methods11 healthy adult subjects were required to walk while simultaneously performing a RT task. Participants were instructed to bite a pressure transducer placed in the mouth as quickly as possible in response to an unpredictable electrical stimulation applied on the back of the neck. Each subject was tested under five different experimental conditions: simple RT task alone and while walking, recognition RT task alone and while walking, walking alone. A foot switch system composed of a pressure sensitive sensor was placed under the heel and forefoot of each foot to determine the gait cycle duration.ResultsGait cycle duration was unchanged (p > 0.05) by the addition of the RT task. Regardless of the level of difficulty of the RT task, the RTs were longer during treadmill walking than in sitting conditions (p < 0.01) indicating that an increased amount of resources are required for the maintainance of walking performance on a treadmill at a steady state. No interaction (p > 0.05) was found between the attentional demand of the walking task and the decrement of performance found in the RT task under varying levels of difficulty. This finding suggests that the healthy subjects prioritized the control of walking at the expense of cognitive performance.ConclusionWe conclude that treadmill walking in young adults is not a purely automatic task. The methodology and outcome measures used in this study provide an assessment of the attentional resources required by walking on the treadmill at a steady state.
Loading PDF
43A longitudinal study of reaction time performance in long-evans rats
A longitudinal study of reaction time performance in long-evans rats
49Attentional focus influences postural control and reaction time performances only during challenging dual-task conditions in healthy young adults
The dual-task paradigm has previously been used to investigate the attentional demands associated with postural control. Previous studies have identified both the focus of attention and the difficulty of a postural task as potential factors influencing dual-task performance. The aim of this study was to examine how the instructed focus of attention influences dual-task performance during quiet standing tasks of various levels of difficulty. Thirteen young adults participated in two testing sessions consisting of standing as still as possible on a force platform in different postural conditions, while simultaneously performing a simple reaction time (RT) task. Postural task difficulty was manipulated by various combinations of three bases of support (feet together, tandem and single leg) and two visual conditions (eyes opened and closed). Participants were instructed to focus on either their balance or their RT performance, depending on the testing session. When comparing postural control with respect to session focus, anterior-posterior sway velocity decreased with the addition of the simple RT task when the focus was on balance, but only during the more difficult dual-task conditions. In contrast, sway area and medial-lateral sway velocity did not change between the two instructed focus sessions. Participants responded faster in all dual-task conditions when focusing on RT performance than on balance. The modified attention allocation index indicated that participants' ability to modulate their allocation of attentional resources to respond positively to instruction was more pronounced in the most challenging postural condition. The present findings could have important implications for the interpretation of dual-task performance in both clinical and research settings.
Read more2Theta burst stimulation on the fronto-cerebellar connective network promotes cognitive processing speed in the simple cognitive task.
The fronto-cerebellar functional network has been proposed to subserve cognitive processing speed. This study aims to elucidate how the long-range frontal-to-cerebellar effective connectivity contributes to faster speed. In total, 60 healthy participants were randomly allocated to three five-daily sessions of transcranial magnetic stimulation conditions, namely intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS, excitatory), continuous theta-burst stimulation (CTBS, inhibitory), or a sham condition. The sites of the stimulations were the right pre-supplementary motor area (RpSMA), medial cerebellar vermis VI (MCV6), and vertex, respectively. Performances in two reaction time tasks were recorded at different time points. Post-stimulation speeds revealed marginal decreases in the simple but not complex task. Nevertheless, participants in the excitatory RpSMA and inhibitory MCV6 conditions showed direct and negative path effects on faster speeds compared to the sham condition in the simple reaction time (SRT) task (β = -0.320, p = 0.045 and β = -0.414, p = 0.007, respectively). These path effects were not observed in the SDMT task. RpSMA and MCV6 were involved in promoting the path effects of faster reaction times on simple cognitive task. This study offers further evidence to support their roles within the long-range frontal-to-cerebellar connectivity subserving cognitive processing speed. The enhancement effects, however, are likely limited to simple rather than complex mental operations.
Read more1Event-related potential evidence of semantic mismatch in a ‘same-different’ reaction time task
Event-related potential evidence of semantic mismatch in a ‘same-different’ reaction time task
34Deficits in inhibitory force control in young adults with ADHD
Deficits in inhibitory force control in young adults with ADHD
68Movement time differentiates extraverts from introverts
Movement time differentiates extraverts from introverts
113Evaluation of myocardial and peripheral vascular responses during reaction time, mental arithmetic, and cold pressor tasks.
ABSTRACTThe primary purpose of this study was to examine the covariation of cardiac output and forearm blood flow during reaction time, mental arithmetic, and cold pressor tasks. Cardiac output was indexed using impedance cardiography, whereas impedance venous occlusion plethysmography was used lo index forearm blood flow. Cardiac output increased significantly over resting values in all three tasks, hut the pattern of these increases differed. Large heart rate increases during mental arithmetic and cold pressor tasks more than offset stroke volume decreases; the increases in the reaction time task were due to relatively smaller heart rate increases with stroke volume augmentation. For forearm blood flow, all task levels were higher than resting levels, but only mental arithmetic levels were statistically higher. The correlation between cardiac output and forearm blood flow change was significant for the reaction time task, but not for the mental arithmetic or cold pressor tasks.
Read more35Effects of autonomic blockade on heart rate responses to reaction time and sustained handgrip tasks.
ABSTRACTThis study used both beta‐adrenergic and cholinergic pharmacological blockade to investigate differences in autonomic mediation of heart rate responses during reaction time and sustained handgrip tasks. Forty‐five healthy young men received a venous infusion of saline and then performed each task for the first time. Then, each subject received a second infusion consisting of either saline, propranolol hydrochloride, or atropine sulfate, and repeated each task. For each infusion, the 15 subjects in each group were unaware of which of the three substances they were receiving. The results indicate that heart rate increases during the reaction time task were mediated by increased beta‐adrenergic activity, whereas heart rate increases during handgrip were mediated by a combination of increased beta‐adrenergic activity and vagal withdrawal. These results support the hypothesis that neural mechanisms mediating cardiac adjustments during some types of psychological stress differ qualitatively from mechanisms mediating similar‐appearing adjustments during some types of physical exertion.
Read moreP.3.c.025 Change of cognitive functions in switching of risperidone for chronic schizophrenic patients
P.3.c.025 Change of cognitive functions in switching of risperidone for chronic schizophrenic patients
3Simple reaction time as a function of preparation for a subsequent choice reaction time task
The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that an increase in the number of alternatives in the choice reaction time task would lengthen the reaction time in the inunediately preceding simple reaction time task because of higher attentional preparation demand. The simple reaction time task involved an auditory click and was performed between the warning light and the visual choice reaction time task. The hypothesis was confirmed. The increase in simple reaction time as a function of information load of the subsequent choice reaction time task was explained in terms of an increased amount of conunitment of limited-capacity attentional system and was interpreted as signifying that there is at least partial parallel processing of the two tasks. The relation of these results to some recent data on the effect of expectancy and limited-capacity short-term memory was discussed.
Read more25Cortical motor areas are activated early in a characteristic sequence during post-movement processing
Cortical motor areas are activated early in a characteristic sequence during post-movement processing
109Focused attention deficits in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment
Focused attention deficits in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment
21Sustained attention failures on a 3-min reaction time task is a sensitive marker of dementia.
The objective of the study is to determine the utility of a simple reaction time task as a marker of general cognitive decline across the frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) spectrum and in Alzheimer's disease (AD). One hundred and twelve patients presenting with AD or FTLD affecting behaviour (behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia), language (progressive non fluent aphasia, logopenic progressive aphasia, semantic dementia) or motor function (corticobasal syndrome, progressive supranuclear palsy, frontotemporal dementia-motor neuron disease) and 25 age-matched healthy controls completed the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT), a 3-min reaction time (RT) task. The proportion of lapses (RT > 500ms) was significantly increased in dementia patients compared to healthy controls, except for semantic dementia, and correlated with all cognitive functions except language. Discrimination of individuals (dementia patients versus healthy controls) based on the proportion of lapses yielded the highest classification performance (Area Under the Curve, AUC, 0.90) compared to standard neuropsychological tests. Only the complete and lengthy neuropsychological battery had a higher predictive value (AUC 0.96). The basic ability to sustain attention is fundamental to perform any cognitive task. Lapses, interpreted as momentary shifts in goal-directed processing, can therefore, be used as a marker of general cognitive decline indicative of possible dementia.
Read more68Relation between the time-course of Hoffmann-reflexes and the foreperiod duration in a reaction-time task
Relation between the time-course of Hoffmann-reflexes and the foreperiod duration in a reaction-time task
46Autonomic activity in relation to symptom ratings and reaction time in unmedicated patients with schizophrenia
Autonomic activity in relation to symptom ratings and reaction time in unmedicated patients with schizophrenia
Copyright 2026 Cactus Communications. All rights reserved.
