Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 25, 2025
Motor Dual-Tasks for Gait Analysis and Evaluation in Post-Stroke Patients
Published on: March 11, 2021
Mobile Brain/Body Imaging of cognitive-motor impairment in multiple sclerosis: Deriving EEG-based neuro-markers
Pierfilippo De Sanctis1, Brenda R Malcolm2, Peter C Mabie3
1The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC), Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Van Etten Building - Wing 1C, 1225 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA; The Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Objective:
Individuals with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) often present with cognitive and motor deficits, and thus the ability to perform tasks that rely on both domains may be particularly impaired. Yet, dual-task walking studies yield mixed results. Individual variance in the ability to cope with brain insult and mobilize additional brain resources may contribute to mixed findings.
Methods:
To test this hypothesis, we acquired event-related potentials (ERP) in individuals with MS and healthy controls (HCs) performing a Go/NoGo task while sitting (i.e., single task) or walking (i.e., dual-task) and looked at the relationship between task related modulation of the brain response and performance.
Results:
On the Go/NoGo task the MS group showed dual-task costs when walking, whereas HCs showed a dual-task benefit. Further, whereas the HC group showed modulation of the brain response as a function of task load, this was not the case in the MS group. Analysis for the pooled sample revealed a positive correlation between load-related ERP effects and dual-task performance.
Conclusions:
These data suggest a neurophysiological marker of cognitive-motor dysfunction in MS.
Significance:
Understanding neural processes underlying dual-task walking will help identify objective brain measurements of real-world issues and may improve assessment of MS.
