Differences in dual-task performance and prefrontal cortex activation between younger and older adults

BMC Neuroscience

Table 1 Task performance

	Younger group		Older group
	Single-task	Dual-task	Single-task	Dual-task
Number of steps ^a	40.8 ±9.1	39.5 ± 9.7	45.5 ± 11.0	40.1 ± 14.0*
Total number answered ^b	8.1	8.3	7.7	8.0
Total number answered ^b	(2.6-19.7)	(2.0-19.3)	(4.0-20.3)	(3.3-24.0)
Proportion performed correctly ^b	96.3	96.0	85.4**	87.5**
Proportion performed correctly ^b	(72.9-100)	(71.4-100)	(41.7-100)	(52.9-100)

a: mean ± S.D., b: Median (range), *: significant different between single-task and dual-task (P < 0.05), **: significant different between younger and older group (P < 0.01).
The number of steps was significantly decreased in dual-task compared with single task in the older group. The proportions performed correctly were significantly lower in the older group than in the younger group in both tasks.

ISSN: 1471-2202