title: Multiple Object Tracking While Walking: Similarities and Differences Between Young, Young-Old, and Old-Old Adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Walking while simultaneously engaged in another activity becomes more difficult as one grows older. Here, we address the issue of changes in dual-task behavior at different stages of life, particularly in the latter stages.
  
  
  METHODS
  We developed a dual task that combined walking along an 8-m walkway with a multiple object tracking (MOT) task of increasing difficulty. This secondary cognitive task imitates visuospatial daily activities and provides reliable quantitative measurements. Our dual-task paradigm was tested on 27 young adults (23.85 ± 2.09 years old) and two groups of older adults (18 young-old and 18 old-old adults, aged 63.89 ± 3.32 and 80.83 ± 3.84 years, respectively).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant decrease in tracking performance with increasing complexity of the MOT task was found in all three groups. An age-related decrease in MOT and gait performance was also found. However, young-old adults performed as well as young adults under low attentional load conditions (in the MOT task and simple walking), whereas their performance was as impaired as those of old-old adults under high attentional load conditions (in the MOT task and walking under dual-task condition).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These different profiles between the two groups of older participants could be explained in terms of compensation strategies and risk of falling.
authors.affiliation: Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale, U1075 COMETE, Caen, France. Normandie University, School of Medicine, Caen, France. University of Caen Basse-Normandie, COMETE Laboratory (Mobilités: Orientation, Attention et Chronobiologie), Caen, France. Department of Rheumatology, CHU (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire) de Caen, France. pothier-k@phycog.org.
authors.forename: Kristell
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pothier
authors.affiliation: Normandie University, School of Medicine, Caen, France. University of Caen Basse-Normandie, CESAMS (EA 4260, Centre d'étude sport et actions motrices), Caen, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Benguigui
authors.affiliation: M2S Laboratory Mouvement, Sport, Santé, Rennes 2 University, France.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kulpa
authors.affiliation: Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale, U1075 COMETE, Caen, France. Normandie University, School of Medicine, Caen, France. University of Caen Basse-Normandie, COMETE Laboratory (Mobilités: Orientation, Attention et Chronobiologie), Caen, France.
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chavoix
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D016138:Walking / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; Dual task; Gait; Multiple object tracking; Visuospatial ability