Frontal hemodynamic response during step initiation under cognitive conflict in elderly and young healthy people.
Abstract
Gait initiation is a daily challenge even for healthy individuals as it requires the timely coupling between the automatic anticipatory postural adjustment (APA) and the voluntary step according to the context. Modulation of this motor event has been thought to involve higher level brain control, including cognitive inhibitory circuitries. Despite the known participation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) in the modulation of some parameters of APA, the participation of areas controlling inhibition during gait initiation still needs to be investigated. In this study, the hemodynamic responses of the SMA and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were assessed using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during a gait initiation task under cognitive conflict to select the foot to step (congruent – CON and incongruent – INC conditions). The elderly group (EG) showed worse inhibitory control than the young group (YG) along with more impairments in APA parameters. EG also had a lower amplitude of hemodynamic responses in both areas than YG in the INC. The INC increased the correlation between SMA and DLPFC only in the YG. Aging seems to impair the interaction between the hemodynamic responses of SMA and DLPFC, which influences APA performance in gait initiation under cognitive conflict.
PMID: 32427282 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2020 May 19;:
Authors: Coelho DB, Bazán PR, Zimeo Morais GA, Balardin JB, Batista AX, de Oliveira CEN, Los Angeles E, Bernardo C, Sato JR, de Lima-Pardini AC
