Targeted tDCS Mitigates Dual-Task Costs to Gait and Balance in Older Adults.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Among older adults, the ability to stand or walk while performing cognitive tasks (ie, dual-tasking) requires coordinated activation of several brain networks. In this multicenter, double-blinded, randomized, and sham-controlled study, we examined the effects of modulating the excitability of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) and the primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) on dual-task performance "costs" to standing and walking.

Methods

Fifty-seven older adults without overt illness or disease completed 4 separate study visits during which they received 20 minutes of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) optimized to facilitate the excitability of the L-DLPFC and SM1 simultaneously, or each region separately, or neither region (sham). Before and

SUBMITTER: Zhou J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8434977 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature