Citation

Hernandez ME, O'Donnell E, Chaparro G, Holtzer R, Izzetoglu M, Sandroff BM, Motl RW. Motor Control 2019; ePub(ePub): 1-20.

Affiliation

The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Human Kinetics Publishers)

DOI

10.1123/mc.2018-0044

PMID

30987505

Abstract

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to evaluate prefrontal cortex activation differences between older adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) and healthy older adults (HOA) during the performance of a balance- and attention-demanding motor task. Ten older adults with MS and 12 HOA underwent functional near-infrared spectroscopy recording while talking, virtual beam walking, or virtual beam walking while talking on a self-paced treadmill. The MS group demonstrated smaller increases in prefrontal cortex oxygenation levels than HOA during virtual beam walking while talking than talking tasks. These findings indicate a decreased ability to allocate additional attentional resources in challenging walking conditions among MS compared with HOA. This study is the first to investigate brain activation dynamics during the performance of balance- and attention-demanding motor tasks in persons with MS.

Language: en

Keywords

cognitive control; divided attention; gait