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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1385286

The influence of cognitive load and vision variability on postural balance in adolescents with intellectual disabilities

Provisionally accepted
Ghada Jouira Ghada Jouira 1Dan Iulian Alexe Dan Iulian Alexe 2*Cristina Elena Moraru Cristina Elena Moraru 3Ghazi Rekik Ghazi Rekik 1Cristina Ioana Alexe Cristina Ioana Alexe 4*Marius Alin Marinău Marius Alin Marinău 5Sonia Sahli Sonia Sahli 1
  • 1 Research Laboratory Education, Motor Skills, Sport and Health, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
  • 2 Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Movement, Sports and Health Sciences, University of Bacău, Bacau, Bacau, Romania
  • 3 Department of Physical Education and Sport,, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania
  • 4 University of Bacău, Bacău, Romania
  • 5 Department of Physical Education, Sport and Kinetotherapy, University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study aimed to investigate the impact of cognitive load, particularly its escalation during the execution of the same test, under varying vision conditions, on postural balance among adolescents with intellectual disability (ID). Twenty adolescents underwent balance assessments under different visual conditions (Open Eyes (OE), Closed Eyes (CE), Flash, Goggles, Visual Stimulation (VS)) and task settings (Single Task (ST), Dual Task (DT) without challenges, and DT with challenges). The cognitive test was assessed using Verbal Fluency (VF). Significant effects were found for Task (p<0.001, ηp²=0.85), indicating that CoP values significantly increased (p<0.05) with the introduction of the DT. Dual Task Cost (DTC) demonstrated significant effects for Vision (p=0.008, ηp²=0.62), with values varying significantly (p<0.05) among different vision conditions, especially in CE and Flash conditions. Visual Dependency Quotient (VDQ) analyses revealed significant effects of condition (p<0.001, ηp²=0.84), with significant changes observed in CE/OE and Flash/OE conditions (p<0.05). Significant effects were observed for Cognitive performance in the Challenge condition (p< 0.001, ηp²=0.86), with decreased performance with cognitive task challenges, particularly in Flash and Goggles conditions (p<0.05). In conclusion, cognitive tasks, especially challenging ones, and visual variations significantly impact postural balance in adolescents with ID.

    Keywords: Intellectual Disabilities, Adolescent, Postural Balance, Cognitive Load, Vision

    Received: 12 Feb 2024; Accepted: 10 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jouira, Alexe, Moraru, Rekik, Alexe, Marinău and Sahli. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Dan Iulian Alexe, Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Movement, Sports and Health Sciences, University of Bacău, Bacau, 600115, Bacau, Romania
    Cristina Ioana Alexe, University of Bacău, Bacău, Romania

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