title: Functional brain imaging of walking while talking - An fNIRS study.
abstract: Since functional imaging of whole body movements is not feasible with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the present study presents in vivo functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a suitable technique to measure body movement effects on fronto-temporo-parietal cortical activation in single- and dual-task paradigms. Previous fNIRS applications in studies addressing whole body movements were typically limited to the assessment of prefrontal brain areas. The current study investigated brain activation in the frontal, temporal and parietal cortex of both hemispheres using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with two large 4×4 probe-sets with 24 channels each during single and dual gait tasks. 12 young healthy adults were measured using fNIRS walking on a treadmill: the participants performed two single-task (ST) paradigms (walking at different speeds, i.e. 3 and 5km/h) and a dual task (DT) paradigm where a verbal fluency task (VFT) had to be executed while walking at 3km/h. The results show an increase of activation in Broca's area during the more advanced conditions (ST 5km/h vs. ST 3km/h, DT vs. ST 3km/h, DT vs. 5km/h), while the corresponding area on the right hemisphere was also activated. DT paradigms including a cognitive task in conjunction with whole body movements elicit wide-spread cortical activation patterns across fronto-temporo-parietal areas. An elaborate assessment of these activation patterns requires more extensive fNIRS assessments than the traditional prefrontal investigations, e.g. as performed with portable fNIRS devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Calwerstraße 14, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; Geriatric Center, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Calwerstraße 14, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. Electronic address: florian.Metzger@med.uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Florian G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Metzger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Calwerstraße 14, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. Electronic address: ann-christine.ehlis@med.uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Ann-Christine
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ehlis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Calwerstraße 14, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. Electronic address: florian.haeussinger@med.uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Florian B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Haeussinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Medicine, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Straße 6, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: patrick.schneeweiss@med.uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schneeweiss
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Calwerstraße 14, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. Electronic address: justin.hudak@med.uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hudak
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Calwerstraße 14, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; Center of Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), Cluster of Excellence, University of Tuebingen, Otfried-Müller-Straße 25, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: andreas.fallgatter@med.uni-tuebingen.de.
authors.forename: Andreas J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fallgatter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Calwerstraße 14, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; Department of Psychology, HELP University Kuala Lumpur, Persiaran Cakerawala, Subang Bestari, Seksyen U4, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: s85sabrina@aol.com.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schneider
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009299:Nasal Provocation Tests; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: dual task; functional near-infrared spectroscopy; gait; gait imaging; verbal fluency task