Article

The purpose of this study was to examine whether visual interference has any
effect on error in the initial direction of anticipatory postural adjustment
(APA) prior to a step (indicating a motor program error) and response time during
the choice step execution. Twenty healthy young participants were instructed to
execute forward stepping as quickly and accurately as possible on the side
indicated by a central arrow (<--, left vs. -->, right) of a visual cue in the
neutral condition. In the flanker condition, they were additionally required to
ignore the 2 flanking arrows on each side (-->-->, congruent or
-->--><---->-->, incongruent). Errors in the direction of the initial weight
transfer (APA errors) and the step execution times were measured from the
vertical force data. In the incongruent condition, the percentage of APA errors
and the step execution times were significantly greater than those in the neutral
and congruent conditions. A linear mixed model revealed that the step execution
time in trials with APA errors was longer than those in trials without APA
errors. The visual interference effect of a flanker task may load selective
attention and judgment processing during movement initiation, leading to
increased initial motor program errors and prolonged step execution times even in
healthy young adults.
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Langue : ANGLAIS