Dual Task

Objective: This research aims to identify the impact of text messaging on simulated driving performance. Background: In the past decade, a number of on-road, epidemiological, and simulator-based studies reported the negative impact of talking on a cell phone on driving behavior. However, the impact of text messaging on simulated driving performance is still not fully understood. Method: Forty participants engaged in both a single task (driving) and a dual task (driving and text messaging) in a high-fidelity driving simulator. Results: Analysis of driving performance revealed that participants in the dual-task condition responded more slowly to the onset of braking lights and showed impairments in forward and lateral control compared with a driving-only condition. Moreover, text-messaging drivers were involved in more crashes than drivers not engaged in text messaging. Conclusion: Text messaging while driving has a negative impact on simulated driving performance. This negative impac...

Le but de cette étude était d'examiner l'effet d'un programme d'activités physiques sur la stabilité et le contrôle attentionnel de la posture lors de la réalisation concomitante d'une tâche cognitive attentionnelle chez des personnes âgées en perte d'autonomie.Douze personnes âgées (M = 81,4 ± 9 ans), institutionnalisées en structure gériatrique ont participé à un programme d'activités physiques de type posture–équilibration–motricité (PEM) pendant 12 semaines à raison de deux séances d'une heure par semaine. Les paramètres stabilométriques de surface et de longueur du trajet parcouru par le centre de pression plantaire (CPP), les yeux ouverts (YO) et les yeux fermés (YF), en condition simple-tâche et en condition double-tâche sur sol dur ont été analysés avant et après le programme d'entraînement. En condition double-tâche, les sujets effectuaient, lors de l'évaluation stabilométrique, une tâche cognitive attentionnelle de génération de chiffres aléatoires.Les principaux résultats ont révélé que seule la longueur du trajet parcouru par le CPP était plus importante en condition double-tâche qu'en condition simple-tâche (p = 0,05). Lors de l'évaluation initiale, la performance à la tâche cognitive était significativement moins bonne en condition double-tâche (debout) qu'en condition simple-tâche (assis), seulement dans la modalité YF mais pas dans la modalité YO (p < 0,05). Toutefois, à l'issue du programme d'entraînement, les performances à la tâche cognitive ne se différenciaient plus (n.s.) pour les deux conditions assis YF et debout YF.L'entraînement a permis d'améliorer la capacité des sujets à réaliser une tâche mentale attentionnelle tout en maintenant un équilibre correct, notamment les yeux fermés. Bien que les performances stabilométriques semblaient moins bonnes en condition double-tâche qu'en condition simple-tâche, ces résultats pourraient être interprétés comme une amélioration, suite au programme d'entraînement, du contrôle attentionnel du maintien de la posture. Les limites méthodologiques de cette étude sont ensuite discutées.We aimed to examine the effect of a physical activity program on postural sway and on the attentional control of postural abilities in elderly frail adults.Twelve older adults (age 81.4 ± 9 years) institutionalised in a geriatric care institution participated in the physical activity program posture–balance–mobility (PBM) twice a week (1 hour per session) for 12 weeks. We analysed stabilometric data for surface and length of the center of pressure (COP) sway, with eyes open and eyes closed, under single-task and dual-task conditions on a firm floor before and after the training program. During the static postural evaluation and under the dual-task condition, subjects performed an attention-demanding cognitive task, the random number generation task.Only the length of COP sway was more important under the dual-task condition than under the single-task condition (p = 0.05). At baseline, cognitive performance was significantly weaker under the dual-task condition (standing) than under the single-task condition (seated), with eyes closed but not eyes open (p < 0.05). However, after the training program, the performance of the cognitive task did not significantly differ between the dual-task condition with eyes closed and the single-task condition with eyes closed.The training program allowed elderly subjects to improve their ability to perform an attention-demanding cognitive task while standing still, in particular with their eyes closed. Although balance seemed to be less stable under the dual-task condition than under the single-task condition, these results could be interpreted as an improvement of the attentional control of postural stability.

Earlier studies have shown that horizontal eye movements (EM) during retrieval of a negative memory reduce its vividness and emotionality. This may be due to both tasks competing for working memory (WM) resources. This study examined whether playing the computer game “Tetris” also blurs memory. Participants recalled negative and positive memories in three conditions: recall only, recall with concurrent EM, and recall with playing Tetris. Before and after these conditions, vividness, emotionality, and physiological startle responses during recall were measured. A reaction time task showed that EM and Tetris both draw on WM, compared to no dual-task. Compared to recall only, EMand Tetris both decreased reported emotionality and startle responses. The effects of EM and Tetris did not differ, even though the tasks differed in the degree of taxing WM. This suggests that taxing WM and its effects on emotional memories may not be linearly related. Potential clinical implications are discussed.

The objectives of the present study were to test the hypothesis that the dual-tasking effect on gait variability is larger in healthy older adults than it is in healthy young adults; that this effect is larger in idiopathic elderly fallers than it is in healthy older adults; and that the dual-tasking effects on gait variability are correlated with executive function (EF). Young adults and older adults who were classified as fallers and nonfallers were studied. Gait speed, swing time, and swing time variability, a marker of fall risk, were measured during usual walking and during three different dual-tasking conditions. EF and memory were evaluated. When performing dual tasks, all three groups significantly decreased their gait speed. Dual tasking did not affect swing time variability in the young adults and in the nonfallers. Conversely, dual tasking markedly increased swing time variability in the fallers. While memory was similar in fallers and nonfallers, EF was different. The fa...

Objective: This research aims to identify the impact of text messaging on simulated driving performance. Background: In the past decade, a number of on-road, epidemiological, and simulator-based studies reported the negative impact of talking on a cell phone on driving behavior. However, the impact of text messaging on simulated driving performance is still not fully understood. Method: Forty participants engaged in both a single task (driving) and a dual task (driving and text messaging) in a high-fidelity driving simulator. Results: Analysis of driving performance revealed that participants in the dual-task condition responded more slowly to the onset of braking lights and showed impairments in forward and lateral control compared with a driving-only condition. Moreover, text-messaging drivers were involved in more crashes than drivers not engaged in text messaging. Conclusion: Text messaging while driving has a negative impact on simulated driving performance. This negative impac...

Driver distraction is increasingly recognized as a significant source of injuries and fatalities on the roadway. Distraction can arise from visual/manual interference, for example, when a driver takes his or her eyes off the road to interact with a device. Impairments also come from cognitive sources of distraction when attention is withdrawn from the processing of information necessary for the safe operation of a motor vehicle. In the latter case, the driver’s eyes may be on the roadway and his or her hands on the steering wheel, but he or she may not be attending to the information critical for safe driving. Concern over distracted driving is growing as more and more wireless devices are being integrated into the vehicle. We developed and validated a metric of distraction associated with the diversion of attention from driving. Our studies show that the distraction potential can be reliably measured, that cognitive workload systematically varies as a function of the secondary task performed by the driver, and that some activities, particularly newer voice-based interactions in the vehicle, are associated with surprisingly high levels of mental workload. Changing the culture of distracted driving will require a combination of scientifically based education concerning the hazards of inattention, regulations that target the root causes of distraction, and enforcement of the distracted driving laws.

Recent research on human perception and its implications for the design of aircraft and ground-vehicle display systems is surveyed. Topics addressed include selective visual attention, command and status displays, foveal and peripheral displays, navigation displays, auditory displays, color and pictorial displays, head-up displays, automation, and dual-task performance and pilot workload. Diagrams, drawings, graphs, and photographs are provided.

The cognitive literature now shows how critically math performance depends on working memory, for any form of arithmetic and math that involves processes beyond simple memory retrieval. The psychometric literature is also very clear on the global consequences of mathematics anxiety. People who are highly math anxious avoid math: They avoid elective coursework in math, both in high school and college, they avoid college majors that emphasize math, and they avoid career paths that involve math. We go beyond these psychometric relationships to examine the cognitive consequences of math anxiety. We show how performance on a standardized math achievement test varies as a function of math anxiety, and that math anxiety compromises the functioning of working memory. High math anxiety works much like a dual task setting: Preoccupation with one’s math fears and anxieties functions like a resource-demanding secondary task. We comment on developmental and educational factors related to math and working memory, and on factors that may contribute to the development of math anxiety.

The yips is a multi-etiological phenomenon consisting of involuntary movements during the execution of a skill (e.g., a
golf putt). Reinvestment, the conscious control of a movement that detrimentally affects automated movements, is
thought to be a potential mechanism leading to the yips. Preventing yips-affected golfers from consciously controlling
their movement, therefore, should be beneficial. The aim of the study was to be the first to empirically test in a
laboratory whether reinvestment causes the yips and to explore if the tendency to reinvest can explain yips behavior.
Nineteen yips-affected golfers participated in a lab experiment. They putted with the dominant arm in a skill-focus and
an extraneous condition, in which they had to perform different dual tasks designed either to direct their focus on their
own skill or to distract them from it. The tendency to reinvest was estimated via the Movement-Specific Reinvestment
Scale. Yips behavior was assessed by putting performance and movement variability. Although the dual-task
performance showed that the attentional manipulation worked, the tendency to reinvest did not predict the behavior
of the yips-affected golfers in either putting condition. The yips-affected golfers also showed no difference in yips
behavior between the skill-focus and the extraneous condition. In other words, the attentional manipulation did not
change yips behavior. The data do not support the assumption that there is a link between the yips and reinvestment,
likely because of the multi-etiological nature of the yips. Other psychological or neurological mechanisms such as
conditioned reactions may better explain the yips and should be investigated.

The theoretical part of the book shows that learning in CyberParks takes the form of technology-enhanced outdoor learning and is an element of smart learning, i.e. the latest concept of ICT-supported learning. Learning in CyberParks can also become an element of smart education – a concept of formal learning in the smart city. Learning in CyberParks is supposed to provide students with contact with nature and stimulate them to be physically active. It is thus a type of a dual-task. Studies in cognitive neuroscience suggest that this type of cognitive-motor interference can expose students to a motor danger and weaken their cognitive capabilities. If this was the case, the idea of learning in CyberParks would need to be modified. In order to solve this, two experiments with the use of mobile EEG were carried out. The empirical part of the book indeed shows that during dual-tasks in CyberParks students are less focused and more stressed, and the dynamics of attention and meditation ceases to reflect the dynamics of the cognitive task. Thus, before CyberParks become learning spaces, the idea of CyberParks has to be modified. The cognitive activity intended in CyberParks should be separated from physical activity. When learning in CyberParks, one should be sitting and using applications that do not require movement. Staying close to nature improves the functioning of the brain, therefore such learning is more effective than that carried out indoors. It is also more healthy. When designing CyberParks, one thus has to think not only about the technological infrastructure, but also about making spots for using ICT while sitting available. In this approach, learning in CyberParks becomes an important concept that can be used in practice in order to provide an answer to numerous problems of contemporary educational institutions, related to students’ lack of contact with nature and consolidation of their sedentary lifestyle.

The need to identify functional impairment following a brain injury is critical to prevent reinjury during the period of recovery. However, little is known about the effect of concussion on dynamic motor function. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of concussion on a dynamic motor task under conditions of divided and undivided attention over the course of 28 d. Fifteen subjects with concussions (CONC) and 15 uninjured controls (NORM) were observed while walking with undivided attention and while concurrently completing simple mental tasks. The CONC were assessed within 48 h of injury and again at 5, 14, and 28 d postinjury. The NORM were evaluated at the same time intervals. Whole-body motion data were collected to examine displacement and velocity of the center of mass (COM) and the maximum separation between the COM and center of pressure (COP). Three-way repeated-measures mixed-design ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests were completed to determine differences between group, task, and testing day (P&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;0.05). Several aspects of gait stability were compromised in the CONC group for up to 4 wk after injury. CONC were found to walk significantly slower during dual tasks on all testing days when compared with the uninjured controls. The injured subjects were also found to have greater sway and sway velocity than controls when attention was divided for up to 28 d postinjury. The findings of this study suggest that concussion may have long-term observable and measurable effects on the control of gait stability.