Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 28, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
Res Dev Disabil. 2020 Nov;106:103769. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103769. Epub 2020 Sep 24.
The dual-task (DT) paradigm is an ecologically valid approach to assess cognitive function in relation with motor demands, particularly for children with Down syndrome (DS). This study aimed to determine DT performance for a complex Change-of-Direction (CoD_W) walking task in children with DS.
The sample included 12 children with DS (10.2 ± 1.19 years), 12 typically developing (TD) children matched for chronological (TD-CA: 10.2 ± 1.19 years) and 12 TD children matched for mental age (TD-MA: 5.50 ± 1.24 years). We examined DT performance with the Trail-Walking-Test (TWT): participants (1) walked along a fixed pathway, following a prescribed path, delineated by target markers of (2) increasing sequential numbers, and (3) increasing sequential numbers and letters. Motor and cognitive dual-task costs (DTC) were calculated.
For the TWT, an ANOVA with repeated measures revealed significant differences between DS and the CA, but not the MA group. Overall, there were significant decreases in speed with increasing cognitive demands. In addition, all children produced higher cognitive compared to motor DTC, which were more pronounced in the cognitively more challenging condition.
The assessment of motor and cognitive performance in a DT paradigm provided insight in how motor and/or cognitive impairment constrains the ability of children to successfully perform activities in a complex and dynamical environment.
双任务（DT）范式是一种评估认知功能与运动需求关系的生态有效方法，尤其适用于唐氏综合征（DS）儿童。本研究旨在确定 DS 儿童在复杂变向（CoD_W）行走任务中的 DT 表现。
该样本包括 12 名 DS 儿童（10.2±1.19 岁）、12 名按年龄（TD-CA：10.2±1.19 岁）匹配的典型发育（TD）儿童和 12 名按心理年龄（TD-MA：5.50±1.24 岁）匹配的 TD 儿童。我们使用追踪行走测试（TWT）来评估 DT 表现：参与者（1）沿着固定路径行走，遵循目标标记的预定路径，目标标记逐渐增加顺序数字（2）和顺序数字和字母（3）。计算了运动和认知双重任务成本（DTC）。
对于 TWT，重复测量方差分析显示 DS 与 CA 之间存在显著差异，但与 MA 组之间没有差异。总体而言，随着认知需求的增加，速度显著下降。此外，所有儿童的认知 DTC 均高于运动 DTC，在认知要求更高的情况下更为明显。
在 DT 范式中评估运动和认知表现提供了深入了解运动和/或认知障碍如何限制儿童在复杂和动态环境中成功执行活动的能力。
