In sync with oneself: spontaneous intrapersonal coordination and the effect of cognitive load

Spontaneous intrapersonal coordination is the unintentional coordination of periodic behaviors within an individual. Spontaneous interlimb coordination involving finger-, arm-, foot-, leg- and orofacial muscle movements may be weaker between finger-tapping and walking than between finger-tapping and vocalizing. This could be due to the additional attentional cost of walking, which may be more complex than other periodic movements. Here we compared the coordination stability of simultaneous finger-tapping and walking against simultaneous finger-tapping and repetitive vocalization. We also tested the coordination stability of tapping-walking and tapping-vocalizing under additional cognitive load imposed through concurrent cognitive tasks. Two experiments conceptually replicated spontaneous intrapersonal coordination between the pairs of periodic tasks as well as the effect of concurrent cognitive tasks on coordination stability. To assess coordination, we compared the phase coherence of two periodic tasks, tapping with walking (Experiment 1) or tapping with vocalization (Experiment 2), when produced separately (single task) versus simultaneously (dual task). In the first experiment, participants regularly tapped a microphone while walking, either with no concurrent cognitive task or with concurrent backward counting. In the second experiment, participants tapped while repeating the word "tick," again either with no concurrent cognitive task, or with concurrent visual pattern-matching. Higher spontaneous intrapersonal coordination was evident between periodic tasks when performed simultaneously compared to separately, and lower task coordination stability was evident with a concurrent cognitive task compared to without. These results were in line with past findings. Coordination stability between tapping and walking was lower than that between tapping and ticking overall. This finding supports the categorization of walking as a more complex cognitive task compared to other periodic tasks, as the additional attentional load involved in walking could have resulted in lower coordination stability between tapping and walking. Spontaneous intrapersonal coordination appears sensitive to the attentional costs of performing periodic activities and achieving / maintaining coordination between them.