The effect of age on postural and cognitive task performance while using vibrotactile feedback

Vibrotactile feedback (VTF) has been shown to improve balance performance in healthy people and people with vestibular disorders in a single-task experimental condition. It is unclear how age-related changes in balance affect the ability to use VTF and if there are different attentional requirements...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of neurophysiology 2015-04, Vol.113 (7), p.2127-2136
Main Authors: Lin, Chia-Cheng, Whitney, Susan L, Loughlin, Patrick J, Furman, Joseph M, Redfern, Mark S, Sienko, Kathleen H, Sparto, Patrick J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging - physiology
Aging - psychology
Cognition - physiology
Feedback, Physiological - physiology
Female
Humans
Male
Postural Balance - physiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Sensory Processing
Touch - physiology
Vibration
Young Adult
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Summary:Vibrotactile feedback (VTF) has been shown to improve balance performance in healthy people and people with vestibular disorders in a single-task experimental condition. It is unclear how age-related changes in balance affect the ability to use VTF and if there are different attentional requirements for old and young adults when using VTF. Twenty younger and 20 older subjects participated in this two-visit study to examine the effect of age, VTF, sensory condition, cognitive task, duration of time, and visit on postural and cognitive performance. Postural performance outcome measures included root mean square of center of pressure (COP) and trunk tilt, and cognitive performance was assessed using the reaction time (RT) from an auditory choice RT task. The results showed that compared with younger adults, older adults had an increase in COP in fixed platform conditions when using VTF, although they were able to reduce COP during sway-referenced platform conditions. Older adults also did not benefit fully from using VTF in their first session. The RTs for the secondary cognitive tasks increased significantly while using the VTF in both younger and older adults. Older adults had a larger increase compared with younger adults, suggesting that greater attentional demands were required in older adults when using VTF information. Future training protocols for VTF should take into consideration the effect of aging.
ISSN:0022-3077
1522-1598
DOI:10.1152/jn.00083.2014