Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) dual-tasking datasets (response inhibition while walking): Young adults

Combining walking with a demanding cognitive task is traditionally expected to elicit decrements in gait and/or cognitive task performance. However, it was recently shown that, in a cohort of young adults, most participants improved performance when walking was added to performance of a Go/NoGo response inhibition task. The present study aims to extend these previous findings to an older adult cohort, to investigate whether this improvement when dual-tasking is observed in healthy older adults. Mobile Brain/Body Imaging (MoBI) was used to record electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, three-dimensional (3D) gait kinematics and behavioral responses in the Go/NoGo task, during sitting or walking on a treadmill, in 34 young adults and 37 older adults. Increased response accuracy during walking, independent of age, was found to correlate with slower responses to stimuli (r = 0.44) and with walking-related EEG amplitude modulations over frontocentral regions (r = 0.47) during the sensory gating (N1) and conflict monitoring (N2) stages of inhibition, and over left-lateralized prefrontal regions (r = 0.47) during the stage of inhibitory control implementation (P3). These neural activity changes are related to the cognitive component of inhibition, and they were interpreted as signatures of behavioral improvement during walking. On the other hand, aging, independent of response accuracy during walking, was found to correlate with slower treadmill walking speeds (r = -0.68) and attenuation in walking-related EEG amplitude modulations over left-dominant frontal (r = -0.44) and parietooccipital regions (r = 0.48) during the N2 stage, and over centroparietal regions (r = 0.48) during the P3 stage. These neural activity changes are related to the motor component of inhibition, and they were interpreted as signatures of aging. Older adults whose response accuracy ‘paradoxically’ improved during walking manifested neural signatures of both behavioral improvement and aging, suggesting that their flexibility in reallocating neural resources while walking might be maintained for the cognitive but not for the motor inhibitory component. These distinct neural signatures of aging and behavior can potentially be used to identify ‘super-agers’, or individuals at risk for cognitive decline due to aging or neurodegenerative disease.传统观点认为，将行走与高要求认知任务相结合，会导致步态和/或认知任务表现出现下降。然而近期研究表明，在青年人群队列中，当受试者完成Go/NoGo反应抑制任务（Go/NoGo response inhibition task）时叠加行走任务，多数参与者的表现反而得到提升。本研究旨在将此前的研究发现推广至老年人群队列，以探究健康老年人是否同样会在双任务范式下出现表现提升的现象。本研究采用移动脑体成像（Mobile Brain/Body Imaging, MoBI）技术，对34名青年人和37名老年人在坐姿或跑步机行走状态下的脑电图（electroencephalogram, EEG）活动、三维（3D）步态运动学数据以及Go/NoGo反应抑制任务中的行为反应进行记录。研究发现，无论年龄如何，行走过程中反应准确率的提升均与更慢的刺激反应时（相关系数r=0.44）存在关联，同时与行走相关的脑电图振幅调制存在关联：在抑制过程的感觉门控（N1）与冲突监测（N2）阶段，该调制出现在额中央脑区（相关系数r=0.47）；而在抑制控制执行（P3）阶段，则出现在左侧偏侧化前额叶脑区（相关系数r=0.47）。上述神经活动变化与抑制过程的认知成分相关，被视为行走过程中行为表现提升的神经标志物。另一方面，无论行走过程中的反应准确率如何，衰老均与更慢的跑步机行走速度（相关系数r=-0.68）存在关联；同时与行走相关的脑电图振幅调制减弱存在关联：在N2阶段，该调制减弱出现在左侧优势额叶（相关系数r=-0.44）与顶枕脑区（相关系数r=0.48）；而在P3阶段，则出现在中央顶叶脑区（相关系数r=0.48）。上述神经活动变化与抑制过程的运动成分相关，被视为衰老的神经标志物。那些在行走过程中反应准确率“反常地”提升的老年人，同时表现出行为提升与衰老相关的两种神经标志物，这表明他们在行走过程中重新分配神经资源的灵活性，可能在认知抑制成分中得以保留，而在运动抑制成分中则未保留。上述衰老与行为相关的独特神经标志物，有望用于识别“超级老年人”，或是因衰老或神经退行性疾病而存在认知衰退风险的个体。