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Prefrontal Cortex Brain Activation During Texting and Walking: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Feasibility
Tal Krasovsky1,2, Rawda Madi1, Eyal Fruchter3,4
1Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa,Israel.
Abstract:
Texting while walking is an increasingly common, potentially dangerous task but its functional brain correlates have yet to be reported. Therefore, we evaluated prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation patterns during single- and dual-task texting and walking in healthy adults. Thirteen participants (29-49 years) walked under single- and dual-task conditions involving mobile phone texting or a serial-7s subtraction task, while measuring PFC activation (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) and behavioral task performance (inertial sensors, mobile application). Head lowering during texting increased PFC activation. Texting further increased PFC activation, and decreased gait performance similarly to serial-7 subtraction. Our results support the key role of executive control in texting while walking.
