Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Malcom Randall VA Medical Center, Gainesville, FL, USA; Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA.
Exp Gerontol. 2024 May;189:112403. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2024.112403. Epub 2024 Mar 19.
Walking performance and cognitive function demonstrate strong associations in older adults, with both declining with advancing age. Walking requires the use of cognitive resources, particularly in complex environments like stepping over obstacles. A commonly implemented approach for measuring the cognitive control of walking is a dual-task walking assessment, in which walking is combined with a second task. However, dual-task assessments have shortcomings, including issues with scaling the task difficulty and controlling for task prioritization. Here we present a new assessment designed to be less susceptible to these shortcomings while still challenging cognitive control of walking: the Obstructed Vision Obstacle (OBVIO) task. During the task, participants hold a lightweight tray at waist level obstructing their view of upcoming foam blocks, which are intermittently spaced along a 10 m walkway. This forces the participants to use cognitive resources (e.g., attention and working memory) to remember the exact placement of upcoming obstacles to facilitate successful crossing. The results demonstrate that adding the obstructed vision board significantly slowed walking speed by an average of 0.26 m/s and increased the number of obstacle strikes by 8-fold in healthy older adults (n = 74). Additionally, OBVIO walking performance (a score based on both speed and number of obstacle strikes) significantly correlated with computer-based assessments of visuospatial working memory, attention, and verbal working memory. These results provide initial support that the OBVIO task is a feasible walking test that demands cognitive resources. This study lays the groundwork for using the OBVIO task in future assessment and intervention studies.
步行表现和认知功能在老年人中表现出很强的关联性，随着年龄的增长，两者都在下降。步行需要使用认知资源，特别是在复杂环境中，如跨越障碍物。测量步行认知控制的常用方法是双重任务步行评估，其中步行与第二项任务相结合。然而，双重任务评估存在一些缺点，包括难以对任务难度进行量化和控制任务优先级。在这里，我们提出了一种新的评估方法，旨在减少这些缺点，同时仍然对步行认知控制提出挑战：受阻视觉障碍物（OBVIO）任务。在任务中，参与者将轻便的托盘举到腰部高度，挡住视线，前方是间歇性放置的泡沫块，这些泡沫块沿着 10 米长的走道排列。这迫使参与者使用认知资源（例如注意力和工作记忆）来记住即将到来的障碍物的确切位置，以方便成功穿越。结果表明，在健康的老年人（n=74）中，加入受阻视觉板会使步行速度平均降低 0.26 米/秒，障碍物撞击次数增加 8 倍。此外，OBVIO 步行表现（基于速度和障碍物撞击次数的得分）与基于计算机的视空间工作记忆、注意力和言语工作记忆评估显著相关。这些结果初步支持了 OBVIO 任务是一项可行的需要认知资源的步行测试。这项研究为未来的评估和干预研究奠定了基础。
