Abstract
A decreased ability to switch attention between two concurrent tasks may explain why older adults are susceptible to falls. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether providing a warning would facilitate attention switching abilities in older adults. Fifteen young and 16 older adults commenced each trial by tracking a moving cursor on a computer monitor using a hand-held joystick. At a random time during this tracking task, a support surface translation was delivered and participants were required to recover their balance as quickly as possible. For half of the trials, an auditory warning was presented to inform participants of an upcoming translation. Performance on the balance task was quantified through electromyographic (EMG) recordings of the lower limb muscles, while the ability to switch attention between tasks was determined by tracking task error. Results indicated that although older adults demonstrated poorer dual-task abilities, providing warning of an upcoming loss of balance did not lead to differential benefits to attention switching between young and older adults. Specifically, when a warning was provided, both young and older adults increased their leg EMG activity by 10-165% (p<0.05) in preparation for the upcoming translation. However, in contrast to the hypothesis, differences in the timing of attention switching, as reflected by the onset of tracking error, were not observed with or without the warning (p=0.424). Together, the findings suggest that providing a warning of an upcoming loss of balance has minimal benefits in improving attention switching abilities for balance recovery in older adults.Acknowledgments: The research was supported from funding by CFI, NSERC and CIHR.