Executive functions and gait in sedentary versus frequently jogging adults: Evidence from a dual-task paradigm

BACKGROUND: Executive functions and gait are highly associated and can have positive spill-over effects. While there is some evidence that the type of sport and exercise-related skills can influence these crossover benefits of executive functions and gait, most studies have compared open-skill and closed-skill sports, emphasizing the benefits to open-skill sports which are highly adaptive and less predictable. Limited research has examined the unique cognitive and motor benefits of closed-skill sports, or more predictable forms of exercise with limited movement sets, such as jogging or swimming, particularly when compared to sedentary people. METHODOLOGY: Therefore, the present study examined gait during executive functioning dual-task performance for inhibition, switching, and working memory domains with and without concurrent walking among N = 65 adults with either high rates of physical activity via closed-skill sports (i.e., jogging) or limited rates of physical activity (i.e., sedentary group). RESULTS: Overall, significant performance declines from the single- to dual-task were present in average accuracy and gait variability across the entire sample, with only subtle group differences in executive functions, favoring the joggers. Cognitive and motor dual-task costs (DTCs) were only descriptively and not significantly worse in the sedentary group. INTERPRETATION: Broad reductions from the single- to dual-task conditions revealed consistent cognitive-motor interference in the entire sample. Few differences between joggers and sedentary adults likely support the age-stabilization of cognitive-motor skills in young adulthood.