title: Walking in School-Aged Children in a Dual-Task Paradigm Is Related to Age But Not to Cognition, Motor Behavior, Injuries, or Psychosocial Functioning.
abstract: Age-dependent gait characteristics and associations with cognition, motor behavior, injuries, and psychosocial functioning were investigated in 138 typically developing children aged 6.7-13.2 years (M = 10.0 years). Gait velocity, normalized velocity, and variability were measured using the walkway system GAITRite without an additional task (single task) and while performing a motor or cognitive task (dual task). Assessment of children's cognition included tests for intelligence and executive functions; parents reported on their child's motor behavior, injuries, and psychosocial functioning. Gait variability (an index of gait regularity) decreased with increasing age in both single- and dual-task walking. Dual-task gait decrements were stronger when children walked in the motor compared to the cognitive dual-task condition and decreased with increasing age in both dual-task conditions. Gait alterations from single- to dual-task conditions were not related to children's cognition, motor behavior, injuries, or psychosocial functioning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Basel , Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Priska
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hagmann-von Arx
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Basel , Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Manicolo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Warwick , Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Sakari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lemola
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Basel , Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grob
keywords: dual-task walking; executive functions; gait; intelligence; psychosocial functioning; school-aged children