Skilled multi tasker9/20/2023 This may explain why younger women – who have relatively high levels of oestrogen, at least at certain times of their menstrual cycle, than men and older women – seem to be able to process the Stroop task in their left prefrontal cortex without it interfering with their arm swing. When oestrogen itself is present, activation of these receptors can lead to the reshaping of neural networks and perhaps improved function in the prefrontal cortex. There is also a lot of evidence oestrogen receptors are present in this region. This is a complex and evolutionarily-recent part of the brain that seems to be involved in both cognitive control and the control of some elements of walking. However, we think the fact premenopausal women seem to be resistant to interference may have something to do with the specific region of the brain we believe is used for both the Stroop task and arm swing - the prefrontal cortex at the front of the brain. While at first glance this would seem to be proof women may be better at multitasking than men, it is important to remember this describes only the coupling of two highly specific behaviours: a verbal interference task and maintaining arm swing during walking. So we were intrigued to find such a consistent gender difference in how two relatively simple behaviours interact with one another. While men and women have a number of important biological differences, the structure and function of our nervous system seems to be quite similar. In men and older women, the Stroop test appeared to overwhelm the left brain to the extent that the movement of the arm on the right was reduced. Participants were asked to walk on a treadmill while performing either a simple reading task or the Stroop test. The right arm is controlled by the left side of the brain which, as mentioned earlier, is also where the processing areas activated during the Stroop test are. Women under 60, though, were able to perform the Stroop task with no significant change in arm-swing symmetry. This was also the case in older women (over 60). However, when the men of any age group walked and performed the Stroop test at the same time, the swing in their right arm decreased dramatically. Most participants swung their left and right arm symmetrically when just walking. The participants had to walk for a minute while also either completing a Stroop task or just walking normally. Our experiment consisted of measuring walking patterns in 83 healthy male and female volunteers of different age groups (20 to 40, 40 to 60 and 60 to 80 years) on a treadmill. The brain networks and structures activated during this task have been extensively researched and there is indication they are generally found in the brain’s left hemisphere. The task is from the family of “interference” tasks where the brain must successfully integrate multiple and competing stimuli to achieve the correct response. The correct response is the colour of the word (in our example, red) although most people automatically read the word rather than saying the colour it is written in. The Stroop test is often used to see how someone can accomplish one task when another interferes with it. Here, participants are shown a written colour word (such as “green”) written in an incongruent color (such as red). This is especially useful when contrasting response patterns to those seen in patients in early stages of neuropathies – conditions resulting from problems in the nervous system.Ĭlassically, a task used to distract research participants from another is the Stroop test, first proposed by John Ridley Stroop in the 1930s. In other words walking, and the associated swinging of the arms, are semi-automatic, goal-directed behaviours.īut the coordination of our arm swing changes in a subtle fashion when we are asked to complete certain cognitive (thinking) tasks while walking.Īs neuroscientists in the field of spinal cord injuries, our research group is interested in describing and understanding the effects of walking when also performing difficult tasks, and determining whether these additional conditions result in different adaptations to coordination. Instead, walking serves the simple purpose of getting us from one place to another. Most of us pay little attention to how our limbs move when we walk.
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