Virtual reality-based assessment of cognitive-locomotor interference in healthy young adults.
Anne Deblock-Bellamy, Anouk Lamontagne, Bradford J McFadyen and 2 others
PMID 33752704WHAT IT FOUND
In 15 healthy young adults walking in VR, memory accuracy fell by 6.67% only when avoiding virtual agents and tracking a modified shopping list.
Walking speed did not clearly change.
Key findings
01When participants had to avoid virtual agents while also tracking a changed shopping list, they recalled fewer items, with a 6.67% dual-task cost.
02Walking speed, walking fluidity, and distance from virtual agents did not show a significant dual-task cost when memory tasks were added.
03The cognitive cost was larger when both the walking task and the memory task were complex than when either task was simple.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only 15 healthy young adults from a university convenience sample, so it does not show how people with walking limitations, stroke, or age-related decline would respond. Walking was on an omnidirectional platform, not over ground, and the platform can change muscle activation and require a new walking pattern. Familiarization may take longer in older adults or people with neurological disorders, so the protocol may not transfer directly. Data were missing for one trial in one participant, and two trials were averaged instead of three for one condition. No prioritization instruction was given, so participants may have chosen their own strategy, and some increased rather than decreased walking speed. Virtual agents were visual distractors that did not physically interfere, and the study did not test real community walking. The design cannot determine which attentional mechanism caused the result.
Declared interests
The supplied text states that the work was funded by the Team of researchers in Immersive Technlogy in Rehabilitation (ITR) of the Centre for interdisciplinary research in rehabilitation and social integration. It does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 6.67% cognitive cost as proof that a VR dual-task test will identify patients with cognitive-motor problems. It appeared only in healthy young adults when both the walking and memory tasks were complex, and platform walking may differ from overground walking.