Effects of various executive functions on adults' and children's walking
| Autor: | Schaefer Schaefer, Alexander Grob, Wenke Möhring, Stephanie Klupp, Robin Segerer |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Adolescent Short-term memory Poison control Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Walking 050105 experimental psychology Task (project management) Behavioral Neuroscience Executive Function Young Adult Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) Cognitive resource theory Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance Child Gait Working memory 05 social sciences Cognition Middle Aged Executive functions Inhibition Psychological Memory Short-Term Female Psychology Psychomotor Performance Cognitive psychology |
| Zdroj: | Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance. 46(6) |
| ISSN: | 1939-1277 |
| Popis: | Walking is human's most important locomotion. Until recently, walking was seen as an automated motor task that requires only minimal cognitive resources. However, recent studies indicate that walking requires higher-level cognitive processes such as executive functions. A different line of research suggests that executive functions consist of 3 core components: inhibition, switching, and updating. Combining these findings, the present study clarified which executive-function component is most essential for human walking. Applying a dual-task methodology, adults (n = 37) and 8- to 13-year-old children (n = 134) walked repeatedly across an electronic pathway while solving an inhibition, switching, and updating task. Both adults and children showed the largest gait alterations in the updating and switching task as opposed to inhibition. Likewise, their cognitive performance revealed the largest performance reductions from single- to dual-task situations in the updating task. Overall, our results highlight remarkable similarities in children's and adults' performance with updating working memory representations and switching between rule sets being the most essential cognitive processes for walking. These findings point to a general gait-cognition process. Results have important theoretical value and hold practical implications for creating effective intervention programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved). |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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