BACKGROUND There is growing evidence of the involvement of executive control in the maintenance of balance in old age. We examined whether healthy older adults who completed five sessions of nonmotor cognitive dual-task training would show significant improvements on measures of dual-task standing balance and mobility, compared with an untrained control group. METHODS Twenty healthy older adu...

BACKGROUND Human movement can be guided automatically (implicit control) or attentively (explicit control). Explicit control may be engaged when learning a new movement, while implicit control enables simultaneous execution of multiple actions. Explicit and implicit control can often be assigned arbitrarily: we can simultaneously drive a car and tune the radio, seamlessly allocating implicit or...

Designing brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that can be used in conjunction with ongoing motor behavior requires an understanding of how neural activity co-opted for brain-control interacts with existing neural circuits. BCIs may be used to regain lost motor function after stroke or traumatic brain injury, for instance, provided that a neural control signal can be extracted from a single spared ...

This paper devises an output-feedback multi-loop positioning technique adopting the speed observer and multi-motor synchronizer, targeting dual (master slave) motor elevator system applications, providing three contributions. First, order-reduction continuously extracts information from position measurement, independent of model information. Second, stabilizer accomplishes synchronization tasks...

BACKGROUND Methylphenidate (MPH) action may improve executive function and motor function. Effects of MPH on balance function in older adults were investigated. METHODS A randomized controlled double-blind study examined the effects of a single dose of MPH on gait and postural stability in 30 healthy older adults (mean age = 74.9 ± 5.6) in four task conditions: (a) single task, standing still...

Acquisition of a new skill is generally associated with a decrease in the need for effortful control over performance, leading to the development of automaticity. Automaticity by definition has been achieved when performance of a primary task is minimally affected by other ongoing tasks. The neural basis of automaticity was examined by testing subjects in a serial reaction time (SRT) task under...