Cognitive interference of respiratory versus limb muscle dual tasking in healthy adults

• Published in: ERJ open research 2024-09, Vol.10 (5), p.169
• Main Authors: Rassam, Peter, de Mori, Tamires, Van Hollebeke, Marine, Rozenberg, Dmitry, Davenport, Paul, Vallis, Lori Ann, Reid, W Darlene
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original s
• ISSN: 2312-0541; 2312-0541
• DOI: 10.1183/23120541.00169-2024

Inspiratory threshold loading (ITL) and associated dyspnoea have been shown to interfere with cognition during cognitive-motor dual tasking. However, ITL has not been compared with another rhythmic muscle activity, such as lower limb pedalling. While ITL has been shown to interfere with cognition, the mechanism of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during ITL or other rhythmical muscle dual tasking, has not been elucidated. Given the cognitive interference that arises during ITL, we hypothesise that ITL cognitive-motor dual tasking will result in greater cognitive decrements and increased PFC activity compared with the pedalling cognitive-motor dual task. 30 healthy participants (16 females; median age 23 (interquartile range 23-24) years) were recruited. They performed five 3-min tasks in a single visit in a random order: single tasks were ITL, pedalling and Stroop task and dual tasks were ITL-Stroop and pedalling-Stroop. Participant's PFC activity was assessed bilaterally using functional near-infrared spectroscopy throughout each task. Single- and dual-task cognitive performance was evaluated by measuring Stroop task reaction time and accuracy. Dyspnoea and rating of perceived exertion were evaluated at the end of each task. ITL-Stroop resulted in greater impairments in reaction time (p