Attentional Focus and Prefrontal Cortical Activation

Overview

Attention may influence the motor performance and frontal activity. This study will examine the effect of different attentional focus : internal, external and divided attention (dual task) on prefrontal cortical activation (fNIRS) and on gait performance. Thirty young healthy voluntary adults will participate in this study.

Full Title of Study: “The Effects of Different Attentional Focus During Walking on Prefrontal Cortical Activation in Young Healthy Adults”

Study Type

  • Study Type: Interventional
  • Study Design
    • Allocation: N/A
    • Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
    • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
    • Masking: None (Open Label)
  • Study Primary Completion Date: April 19, 2021

Detailed Description

The subjects will be guided to walk at a normal pace while maintaining the required attentional focus. They will walk on 30 m five times in each of the four different focus conditions :1) no instructions about the attentional focus 2) internal focus on their feet movements, 3) external focus on two lines drawn on the floor, 4) divided attention (walking while performing an arithmetic task). A fNIRS system will be used for the prefrontal cortex activation evaluation and FeetMe soles for gait analyses.

Interventions

  • Device: Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)
    • The hemodynamic response in prefrontal cortex will be measured using an Octamon+ system (Artinis). Eight emission and two detector probes will be arranged on the participant’s forehead.

Arms, Groups and Cohorts

  • Experimental: Young healthy voluntary adults
    • 30 young healthy voluntary adults

Clinical Trial Outcome Measures

Primary Measures

  • Effects of different attentional conditions on hemodynamic response in prefrontal cortex
    • Time Frame: Baseline
    • Oxyhemoglobin variations in prefrontal cortex measured with fNIRS
  • Effects of different attentional conditions on hemodynamic response in prefrontal cortex
    • Time Frame: Baseline
    • Deoxyhemoglobin variations in prefrontal cortex measured with fNIRS

Secondary Measures

  • Effects of speed on gait.
    • Time Frame: Baseline
    • Gait parameters will be measured with connected soles FeetMe ® : speed
  • Effects of cadence on gait.
    • Time Frame: Baseline
    • Gait parameters will be measured with connected soles FeetMe ® : cadence
  • Effects of stride length on gait.
    • Time Frame: Baseline
    • Gait parameters will be measured with connected soles FeetMe ® : stride length
  • Effects of double support time on gait.
    • Time Frame: Baseline
    • Gait parameters will be measured with connected soles FeetMe ® : double support time

Participating in This Clinical Trial

Inclusion Criteria

  • Man or woman – 18 -30 years old – Informed consent obtained – Free from any neurological, cardiologic, rheumatologic disorders. Exclusion Criteria:

  • Assisted walker. – Disorders affecting gait. – Concomitant medication likely to interfere with the results.

Gender Eligibility: All

Minimum Age: 18 Years

Maximum Age: 30 Years

Are Healthy Volunteers Accepted: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Investigator Details

  • Lead Sponsor
    • Centre Hospitalier Régional d’Orléans
  • Provider of Information About this Clinical Study
    • Sponsor

References

Wulf G, Hoss M, Prinz W. Instructions for motor learning: differential effects of internal versus external focus of attention. J Mot Behav. 1998 Jun;30(2):169-79. doi: 10.1080/00222899809601334.

Kim SA, Ryu YU, Shin HK. The effects of different attentional focus on poststroke gait. J Exerc Rehabil. 2019 Aug 28;15(4):592-596. doi: 10.12965/jer.1938360.180. eCollection 2019 Aug.

Lu CF, Liu YC, Yang YR, Wu YT, Wang RY. Maintaining Gait Performance by Cortical Activation during Dual-Task Interference: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study. PLoS One. 2015 Jun 16;10(6):e0129390. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129390. eCollection 2015.

Herold F, Wiegel P, Scholkmann F, Thiers A, Hamacher D, Schega L. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy in movement science: a systematic review on cortical activity in postural and walking tasks. Neurophotonics. 2017 Oct;4(4):041403. doi: 10.1117/1.NPh.4.4.041403. Epub 2017 Aug 1.

Farid L, Jacobs D, Do Santos J, Simon O, Gracies JM, Hutin E. FeetMe(R) Monitor-connected insoles are a valid and reliable alternative for the evaluation of gait speed after stroke. Top Stroke Rehabil. 2021 Mar;28(2):127-134. doi: 10.1080/10749357.2020.1792717. Epub 2020 Jul 13.

Kal EC, van der Kamp J, Houdijk H. External attentional focus enhances movement automatization: a comprehensive test of the constrained action hypothesis. Hum Mov Sci. 2013 Aug;32(4):527-39. doi: 10.1016/j.humov.2013.04.001. Epub 2013 Jun 30.

Yogev-Seligmann G, Hausdorff JM, Giladi N. The role of executive function and attention in gait. Mov Disord. 2008 Feb 15;23(3):329-42; quiz 472. doi: 10.1002/mds.21720.

Wood JN, Grafman J. Human prefrontal cortex: processing and representational perspectives. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2003 Feb;4(2):139-47. doi: 10.1038/nrn1033. No abstract available.

Pelicioni PHS, Tijsma M, Lord SR, Menant J. Prefrontal cortical activation measured by fNIRS during walking: effects of age, disease and secondary task. PeerJ. 2019 May 3;7:e6833. doi: 10.7717/peerj.6833. eCollection 2019.

Shafizadeh M, Platt GK, Mohammadi B. Effects of different focus of attention rehabilitative training on gait performance in Multiple Sclerosis patients. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2013 Jan;17(1):28-34. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2012.04.005. Epub 2012 May 10.

Yogev-Seligmann G, Rotem-Galili Y, Mirelman A, Dickstein R, Giladi N, Hausdorff JM. How does explicit prioritization alter walking during dual-task performance? Effects of age and sex on gait speed and variability. Phys Ther. 2010 Feb;90(2):177-86. doi: 10.2522/ptj.20090043. Epub 2009 Dec 18.

Holtzer R, Mahoney JR, Izzetoglu M, Izzetoglu K, Onaral B, Verghese J. fNIRS study of walking and walking while talking in young and old individuals. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2011 Aug;66(8):879-87. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glr068. Epub 2011 May 17.

Udina C, Avtzi S, Durduran T, Holtzer R, Rosso AL, Castellano-Tejedor C, Perez LM, Soto-Bagaria L, Inzitari M. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy to Study Cerebral Hemodynamics in Older Adults During Cognitive and Motor Tasks: A Review. Front Aging Neurosci. 2020 Jan 21;11:367. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2019.00367. eCollection 2019.

Clinical trials entries are delivered from the US National Institutes of Health and are not reviewed separately by this site. Please see the identifier information above for retrieving further details from the government database.

At TrialBulletin.com, we keep tabs on over 200,000 clinical trials in the US and abroad, using medical data supplied directly by the US National Institutes of Health. Please see the About and Contact page for details.