Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) dual-tasking datasets (response inhibition while walking): Increased cognitive load

This study elucidates the neural mechanisms underlying increasing
cognitive load while walking by employing 2 versions of a response
inhibition task, the ‘1-back’ version and the more cognitively demanding
‘2-back’ version. By using the Mobile Brain/Body Imaging (MoBI) modality,
electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, three-dimensional (3D) gait
kinematics and task-related behavioral responses were collected while
young adults (n = 61) performed either the 1-back or 2-back response
inhibition task. Interestingly, increasing inhibitory difficulty from
1-back to 2-back during walking was not associated with any detectable
costs in response accuracy, response speed, or gait consistency. However,
the more difficult cognitive task was associated with distinct EEG
component changes during both successful inhibitions (correct rejections)
and successful executions (hits) of the motor response. During correct
rejections, ERP changes were found over frontal regions, during latencies
related to sensory gain control, conflict monitoring and working memory
storage and processing. During hits, ERP changes were found over
left-parietal regions during latencies related to orienting attention and
subsequent selection and execution of the motor plan. The pattern of
attenuation in walking-related EEG amplitude changes, during 2-back task
performance, is thought to reflect more effortful recalibration of neural
processes, a mechanism that might be a key driver of performance
maintenance in the face of increased cognitive demands while walking.
Overall, the present findings shed light on the extent of the
neurocognitive capacity of young adults and may lead to a better
understanding of how factors such as aging or neurological disorders could
impinge on this capacity.