Influence of working memory and executive function on stair ascent and descent in young and older adults

摘要

This study assessed the influence of attention division, working memory and executive function on stair ascent and descent in young and older adults. Twenty young (25.5 +/- 2.1 yrs) and 20 older adults (68.4 +/- 5.4 yrs) ascended and descended a 3-step staircase with no simultaneous cognitive task (single-motor task) or while performing a cognitive task (dual-task condition). The cognitive task involved either 1) recalling a word list of the subject's word-span minus 2 words (SPAN-2) to assess the attention division effect, 2) a word list of subject's word-span (SPAN-O) to assess the working memory effect, or 3) recalling in alphabetical order, a word list of the subject's word-span (SPAN-A) to assess the executive function effect. Word-span corresponds to the longest string of words that can be recalled correctly. The duration of ascent and descent of stairs was used to assess the cognitive-motor interaction.