The Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Motor and Cognitive Functions in Idiopathic Fallers

Plain-language summary

The concurrent performance of two tasks, i.e., dual tasking (DT), is a common and ubiquitous every day phenomena. For example, people frequently walk while talking on a cellphone or drive while talking to a passenger. Often, the performance of one or more of these simultaneously performed tasks may deteriorate when another task is carried out at the same time, even in healthy young adults. This reduction in performance is referred to as the DT deficit or DT cost and is typically much higher in Idiopathic Fallers (IF) than in age-matched controls. In this population the DT cost impairs the gait pattern, as manifested, for example, in increased gait variability, exacerbating instability and fall risk. In the proposed study, would be evaluated the effects of tDCS on dual tasking performance following tDCS. The researchers expect that stimulation of the Pre Frontal Cortex (PFC) (using tDCS) will increase DT performance and prefrontal activation.

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