Brain activity during dual-task standing in older adults.

Thirty participants were community-dwelling, aged 65 and older, able to stand and walk without an assistive device, and screened with MoCA 25.8 ± 3, so results may not apply to patients who need assistive devices or have more severe balance problems. This was a secondary analysis of pre-stimulation visits from a study testing transcranial direct current stimulation, so it was not designed to test treatment effects or fall outcomes. EEG has low spatial resolution, and the six regions of interest may not match the actual underlying brain structures. Reliability was lower during dual-tasking than quiet standing; the authors suggest variable task difficulty, verbalization noise, and individual differences may have contributed. The study did not measure serial subtraction performance or its relationship to brain activity, and most participants made few errors, so the brain changes cannot be tied to cognitive effort or task performance.

Funding was provided by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institutes of Health, the Family of Beth and Richard Marcus Research Fund, and Neuroelectrics Corp. The provided text does not report additional author conflicts or say the funders designed or wrote the study.

Do not conclude that dual-task standing training will improve balance or prevent falls. The study measured brain activity and sway during a laboratory task in 30 older adults without overt illness or disease; it did not test an intervention or fall outcomes.