Gazing into Thin Air: The Dual-Task Costs of Movement Planning and Execution during Adaptive Gait.

ABSTRACT: We examined the effect of increased cognitive load on visual search behavior and measures of gait performance during locomotion. Also, we investigated how personality traits, specifically the propensity to consciously control or monitor movements (trait movement 'reinvestment'), impacted the ability to maintain effective gaze under conditions of cognitive load. Healthy young adults traversed a novel adaptive walking path while performing a secondary serial subtraction task. Performance was assessed using correct responses to the cognitive task, gaze behavior, stepping accuracy, and time to complete the walking task. When walking while simultaneously carrying out the secondary serial subtraction task, participants visually fixated on task-irrelevant areas 'outside' the walking path more oft

SUBMITTER: Ellmers TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5100909 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature