title: Increased cognitive load leads to impaired mobility decisions in seniors at risk for falls.
abstract: Successful mobility requires appropriate decision-making. Seniors with reduced executive functioning-such as senior fallers-may be prone to poor mobility judgments, especially under dual-task conditions. We classified participants as "At-Risk" and "Not-At-Risk" for falls using a validated physiological falls-risk assessment. Dual-task performance was assessed in a virtual reality environment where participants crossed a simulated street by walking on a manual treadmill while listening to music or conversing on a phone. Those "At-Risk" experienced more collisions with oncoming cars and had longer crossing times in the Phone condition compared to controls. We conclude that poor mobility judgments during a dual-task leads to unsafe mobility for those at-risk for falls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada. lindsay@psych.ubc.ca
authors.forename: Lindsay S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Nagamatsu
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voss
authors.forename: Mark B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Neider
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Gaspar
authors.forename: Todd C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Handy
authors.forename: Arthur F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Teresa Y L
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Liu-Ambrose
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008124:Locomotion; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012307:Risk Factors; D014584:User-Computer Interface