title: The effects of concurrent cognitive tasks on postural sway in healthy subjects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Keeping balance of the upright stance is a highly practiced daily task for healthy adults and is effectively performed without overt attentional control in most.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of concurrent cognitive tasks on postural sway in healthy participants.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective study. 20 healthy volunteer subjects were included. The cognitive and balance tasks were performed separately and then, concurrently. Postural control task consisted of 6 conditions (C) of the Sensory Organization Test. The cognitive task consisted of digit rehearsal task of varying presentation and varying levels of difficulty.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A statistically significant difference was noted between dual task and no task for C1, C2, C3 and C4 Sensory Organization Test scores (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between dual task versus non-task for C5, C6 and combined Sensory Organization Test scores (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  During dual task, increase has been determined in postural sway for C1, C2, C3 and C4 for all presentation modes and difficulty levels of the cognitive tasks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey. Electronic address: banumujdeci@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mujdeci
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology, Institute of Health Science, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Didem
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Turkyilmaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Suha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yagcioglu
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology, Institute of Health Science, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Songul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aksoy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Atenção; Attention; Equilíbrio postural; Memory, short-term; Memória de curto prazo; Postural balance; Realização e análise de tarefas; Task performance and analysis