Attentional Demand Varies During a Blind Navigation Pathway In Young And Older Adults

This study sought to investigate the attentional demands while performing a blind navigation task in young and elderly subjects. Fourteen subjects of age 20 to 32 years and 10 subjects of age 62 to 80 years participated in the experience. Blinded navigation task consisted of visually identifying and then walking blindly towards a target 8 meters ahead. To measure attentional demands during navigating, participants were asked to respond to auditory signals by saying "top" as quickly as possible without altering their gait. Reaction times were longer in the older adults and approaching the target for the two groups. Navigation measures (traveled distance, angular deviation and body rotation) were significantly larger in older than young adults. Interestingly, the dual-task leads both groups to walk significantly further which brought the young subjects closer to the target and elderly subjects further from the target.

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