A cross-sectional analysis on the effects of age on dual tasking in typically developing children

Psychol Res. 2019 Feb;83(1):104-115. doi: 10.1007/s00426-018-1126-0. Epub 2018 Dec 1.

Abstract

Dual tasking is an integral part of everyday activities for children. Therefore, as with the other aspects of child development-motor, cognitive, perceptual, psychological, and behavioral-it is important to understand the maturation process of dual-tasking skills in children. Characterizing age-related changes in children's dual-task performance has been problematic, because differences in dual-tasking ability are confounded by age differences in abilities in the relevant single-task performances. The effect of age on dual-tasking ability was examined in 221 typically developing children aged 5-8 years using two motor-cognitive dual-task paradigms: walking while performing an n-back cognitive task, and drawing a trail while performing an n-back cognitive task. The test-retest reliability of the dual-task paradigm was examined by re-assessing 50 participants after 1 month. Individual differences in single-task performance were controlled for, so that any age differences in dual-task costs could not be attributed to differences in single-task performance. There were no age-related differences in dual-task cost of any task (p > 0.05). However, the dual-task cost of trail-making was significantly greater than the dual-task cost of walking when performed under similar cognitive loads (p < 0.0001). The intra-class correlation coefficient ranged from 0.71 to 0.92 for all dual-task performances. The results suggest that previously reported age differences in dual-task costs in young children may have been driven by developmental differences in single-task ability, and that general task coordination ability is comparable in children 5-8 years of age.

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Child
  • Child Development / physiology*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cognition / physiology*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Task Performance and Analysis*
  • Walking / physiology*