Background

The ability to maintain adequate motor-cognitive performance under increasing task demands depends on the regulation and coordination of neural resources. Studies have shown that such resources diminish with aging and disease. EEG spectral analysis is a method that has the potential to provide insight into neural alterations affecting motor-cognitive performance. The aim of this study was to assess changes in spectral analysis during dual-task walking in aging and disease

Methods

10 young adults, ten older adults, and ten patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) completed an auditory oddball task while standing and while walking on a treadmill. Spectral power within four frequency bandwidths, delta (< 4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–12 Hz), and beta (12–30 Hz), was calculated using Event-Related Spectral Perturbation (ERSP) analyses and compared between single task and dual task and between groups.

Results

Differences in ERSP were found in all groups between the single and dual-task conditions. In response to dual-task walking, beta increased in all groups (p < 0.026), delta decreased in young adults (p = 0.03) and patients with PD (0.015) while theta increased in young adults (p = 0.028) but decreased in older adults (p = 0.02) and patients with PD (p = 0.015). Differences were seen between the young, the older adults, and the patients with PD.

Conclusions

These findings are the first to show changes in the power of different frequency bands during dual-task walking with aging and disease. These specific brain modulations may reflect deficits in readiness and allocation of attention that may be responsible for the deficits in dual-task performance.

中文翻译：

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伴随衰老和帕金森氏病的双任务步行过程中脑电图频谱功率的变化：使用事件相关频谱扰动分析的初步发现。

背景

在不断增加的任务要求下保持足够的运动认知能力的能力取决于神经资源的调节和协调。研究表明，此类资源会随着衰老和疾病而减少。脑电波频谱分析是一种有可能提供洞悉影响运动认知能力的神经变化的方法。这项研究的目的是评估衰老和疾病中双任务步行过程中光谱分析的变化

方法

10名年轻成年人，10名老年人和10名帕金森氏病（PD）患者在站立和跑步机上行走时完成了听觉怪异任务。使用事件相关的频谱扰动（ERSP）计算了四个频率带宽内的频谱功率，即德尔塔（<4 Hz），θ（4–8 Hz），阿尔法（8–12 Hz）和贝塔（12–30 Hz）。在单任务和双任务之间以及组之间进行分析和比较。

结果

在单任务和双任务条件之间的所有组中，ERSP均存在差异。响应双任务行走，所有组的β均升高（p  <0.026），青壮年（p  = 0.03）和PD患者的delta降低（p = 0.015），青壮年的theta升高（p  = 0.028），而青壮年则降低。老年人（p  = 0.02）和PD患者（p  = 0.015）。年轻人，老年人和PD患者之间存在差异。

结论

这些发现是第一个显示双任务步行伴随衰老和疾病的过程中不同频段功率变化的信息。这些特定的大脑调节可能反映了准备工作和注意力分配的不足，这可能是双任务执行能力不足的原因。