Researchers provide insight into how the brain multitasks while walking


Date:
January 24, 2022
Source:
University of Rochester Medical Center
Summary:
New research turns the old idiom about not being able to walk and
chew gum on its head. Scientists have shown that the healthy brain
is able to multitask while walking without sacrificing how either
activity is accomplished.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
New research turns the old idiom about not being able to walk and chew
gum on its head. Scientists with the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience
at the University of Rochester have shown that the healthy brain is
able to multitask while walking without sacrificing how either activity
is accomplished.


========================================================================== "This research shows us that the brain is flexible and can take on
additional burdens," said David Richardson, an MD/PhD student in his
fifth year in the Pathology & Cell Biology of Disease Program, and first
author of the study recently published in the journal NeuroImage. "Our
findings showed that the walking patterns of the participants improved
when they performed a cognitive task at the same time, suggesting they
were actually more stable while walking and performing the task than
when they were solely focused on walking." During these experiments, researchers used a Mobile Brain/Body Imaging system, or MoBI, located
in the Del Monte Institute's Frederick J. and Marion A.

Schindler Cognitive Neurophysiology Lab. The platform combines virtual
reality, brain monitoring, and motion capture technology. While
participants walk on a treadmill or manipulate objects on a table, 16
high speed cameras record the position markers with millimeter precision,
while simultaneously measuring their brain activity.

The MoBI was used to record the brain activity of participants as
they walked on a treadmill and were cued to switch tasks. Their brain
activity was also recorded as they performed these same tasks while
sitting. Brain changes were measured between the cued tasks and showed
that during the more difficult the tasks the neurophysiological difference
was greater between walking and sitting -- highlighting the flexibility
of a healthy brain and how it prepares for and executes tasks based on difficulty level.

"The MoBI allows us to better understand how the brain functions
in everyday life," said Edward Freedman, Ph.D., lead author on the
study. "Looking at these findings to understand how a young healthy brain
is able to switch tasks will give us better insight to what's going awry
in a brain with a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer's disease." "Understanding how a young healthy brain can successfully 'walk and
talk' is an important start, but we also need to understand how these
findings differ in the brains of healthy older adults, and adults
with neurodegenerative diseases," said Richardson. "The next stage is
expanding this research to include a more diverse group of brains."
Additional authors include John Foxe, Ph.D., Kevin Mazurek, Ph.D., and
Nicholas Abraham of the University of Rochester. This research was funded
by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience Pilot Program.

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University_of_Rochester_Medical_Center. Original written by Kelsie Smith Hayduk. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. David P. Richardson, John J. Foxe, Kevin A. Mazurek, Nicholas
Abraham,
Edward G. Freedman. Neural markers of proactive and reactive
cognitive control are altered during walking: A Mobile Brain-Body
Imaging (MoBI) study. NeuroImage, 2022; 247: 118853 DOI: 10.1016/
j.neuroimage.2021.118853 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220124151040.htm

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