Stroop in motion : neurodynamic modulation underlying interference control while sitting, standing, and walking

Peskar, Manca (author), Omejc, Nina (author), Šömen, Maja Maša (author), Miladinović, Aleksandar (author), Gramann, Klaus (author), Marušič, Uroš (author)

There is conflicting evidence about how interference control in healthy adults is affected by walking as compared to standing or sitting. Although the Stroop paradigm is one of the best-studied paradigms to investigate interference control, the neurodynamics associated with the Stroop task during walking have never been studied. We investigated three Stroop tasks using variants with increasing interference levels – word-reading, ink-naming, and the switching of the two tasks, combined in a systematic dual-tasking fashion with three motor conditions – sitting, standing, and treadmill walking. Neurodynamics underlying interference control were recorded using the electroencephalogram. Worsened performance was observed for the incongruent compared to congruent trials and for the switching Stroop compared to the other two variants. The early frontocentral event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with executive functions (P2, N2) differentially signaled posture-related workloads, while the later stages of information processing indexed faster interference suppression and response selection in walking compared to static conditions. The early P2 and N2 components as well as frontocentral Theta and parietal Alpha power were sensitive to increasing workloads on the motor and cognitive systems. The distinction between the type of load (motor and cognitive) became evident only in the later posterior ERP components in which the amplitude non-uniformly reflected the relative attentional demand of a task. Our data suggest that walking might facilitate selective attention and interference control in healthy adults. Existing interpretations of ERP components recorded in stationary settings should be considered with care as they might not be directly transferable to mobile settings.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Stroop task, mobile brain imaging, mobile body imaging, event-related potentials, dual tasking, Mobile Brain/Body Imaging, walking, EEG
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: 18 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 178, art. 108543
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-148280
• UDC: 611.8:612
• ISSN on article: 0301-0511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108543
• COBISS.SI-ID: 145493507
• Publication date in RUL: 09.08.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Biological psychology
• Shortened title: Biol. psychol.
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0301-0511
• COBISS.SI-ID: 10384136

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Stroopov test, mobilno slikanje možganov, mobilno slikanje telesa, z dogodkom povezani potenciali, dvojna naloga

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Funding programme: H2020
• Project number: 952401
• Name: TWINning the BRAIN with machine learning for neuro-muscular efficiency
• Acronym: TwinBrain

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P5-0381
• Name: Kineziologija za kakovost življenja