Maintaining task performance levels under cognitive load while walking requires widespread reallocation of neural resources: A Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) study

Patelaki, Eleni; Foxe, John J.; McFerren, Amber L.; Freedman, Edward G. · 2023 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.20.545763

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Summary

This study investigates the neural mechanisms underlying increased cognitive load during dual-task walking, a common yet poorly understood aspect of everyday multitasking. While previous research indicates that young adults can maintain behavioral performance despite increased cognitive demands, the specific neurophysiological adaptations required to sustain this performance remain unclear. The authors aimed to determine how the brain reallocates resources when inhibitory load increases from a 1-back to a more demanding 2-back Go/NoGo task while walking, specifically examining whether this reallocation incurs behavioral costs or alters event-related potential (ERP) dynamics. The researchers employed Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) to simultaneously record electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, three-dimensional gait kinematics, and behavioral responses from 68 datasets derived from young adults. Participants performed either a 1-back or 2-back Go/NoGo task while sitting or walking on a treadmill. The 2-back task required withholding a response if the current image matched the one presented two trials prior, thereby increasing working memory and inhibitory demands compared to the 1-back condition. Data were processed using Independent Component Analysis to remove artifacts, and gait variability was quantified using Dynamic Time Warping. Statistical analyses included Pearson correlations to assess the relationship between inhibitory load and changes in response accuracy, speed, gait consistency, and ERP amplitudes during walking versus sitting. Contrary to the hypothesis that increased load would degrade performance, the study found no detectable costs in response accuracy, response speed, or gait consistency when moving from the 1-back to the 2-back condition during walking. However, significant neural changes were observed. Increasing cognitive load resulted in attenuations in walking-related EEG amplitude changes during both successful inhibitions (correct rejections) and successful executions (hits). During correct rejections, attenuations occurred over frontal regions during latencies associated with sensory gain control, conflict monitoring, and working memory processing. During hits, attenuations were detected over left-parietal regions during attention orienting and motor plan selection, and over central regions during motor execution. These patterns suggest that maintaining performance under higher cognitive load requires a more effortful recalibration of neural processes. The findings indicate that young adults possess substantial neurocognitive capacity to compensate for increased dual-task demands without behavioral deterioration, achieved through widespread reallocation of neural resources. This mechanism of effortful recalibration allows for performance maintenance despite higher cognitive loads. The study highlights the utility of MoBI in capturing millisecond-scale neural adaptations during naturalistic movement. By establishing the neural "tipping point" in healthy young adults, this research provides a baseline for understanding how aging or neurological disorders might impair this compensatory capacity, potentially leading to the behavioral declines observed in vulnerable populations.

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• neuro workload indices