Concurrent motor and cognitive functioning in multiple sclerosis: A motor overflow and motor stability study
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1
Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Australia
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2
Victoria University, Institute of Sport, Exercise, and Active Living, Australia
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3
Royal Melbourne Hospital, Department of Neurology, Australia
Background: The interplay between motor and cognitive functions during concurrent task performance is not fully understood and can vary as a function of task characteristics and across clinical populations. The current study examined the impact of a concurrent digit span task on motor stability and motor overflow in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Method: Twenty-two MS and 22 control participants performed a unimanual force production task, with motor stability reflected in accuracy of voluntary force production, and motor overflow measured as involuntary force produced by the opposite inactive hand. During half of the trials, participants concurrently performed a digit span task.
Results: Overall, MS patients demonstrated increased motor overflow and decreased motor stability; these measures correlated with disease severity. Motor stability was influenced by the inclusion of the concurrent task and this relationship varied as a function of task difficulty (target force). Motor overflow decreased during trials with the concurrent task. MS patients were not differentially affected by the concurrent task, compared with controls.
Discussion: This study demonstrates preserved motor function in a concurrent task paradigm in MS patients and sheds further light on the relationship between attention and motor function in both healthy controls and MS patients. This research may help to inform rehabilitation strategies which are relevant to everyday life situations in which cognitive and motor tasks are routinely performed simultaneously.
Keywords:
motor,
Mulitple Sclerosis,
Concurrent Task,
motor overflow,
MIrror Movement
Conference:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Oral
Topic:
Motor
Citation:
Ternes
A,
Fielding
J,
Addamo
PK,
White
O and
Georgiou-Karistianis
N
(2013). Concurrent motor and cognitive functioning in multiple sclerosis: A motor overflow and motor stability study.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00129
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Received:
15 Oct 2013;
Published Online:
25 Nov 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Anne-Marie Ternes, Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Melbourne, Australia, Anne-Marie.Ternes@monash.edu
Prof. Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis, Monash University, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Melbourne, Australia, Nellie.Georgiou-Karistianis@monash.edu