Concurrent Performance of Cognitive and Motor Tasks in Neurological Rehabilitation

Abstract

Although in many circumstances motor control and cognitive tasks can be performed simultaneously without significant decrement to either, there is evidence that performance is impaired under certain conditions. This study set out to investigate the effects of concomitant demands from cognitive and motor control tasks on patients recovering from acquired brain injury. In line with findings in ageing and physical rehabilitation we found significant interference from a motor tracking task on a simultaneously performed spatial reasoning task among seven subjects undergoing neurological rehabilitation, with lesser interference to a category generation and a number addition task. Tracking performance was also affected by concurrent performance of the spatial reasoning task. We suggest these effects may arise because motor control tasks become less automatic, and require increased cognitive processing resources, following acquired brain injury. This leads to potential interference with other cognitive tasks. Finally, we arguethatthis dual-task interferencemay be clinically relevant, as it may determine patients' responsiveness to rehabilitation.