Role of the Frontal Cortex in Standing Postural Sway Tasks While Dual-Tasking: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study Examining Working Memory Capacity

Figure 1

Flow diagram of study participants and allocation to group. Subjects were 36 healthy young volunteers who were divided into two groups based on their scores in the reading span test, Japanese edition: the first and second groups comprised subjects scoring high scores and a low score, respectively, and the average scorers were excluded. Postural sway was measured for 20 s, and the participants were requested to maintain a standing position while performing the Stroop test and the error number of the results was detected and assumed as an index. We measured (1) S-S: standing with single task, (2) S-D: standing with dual-task, (3) O-S: one leg standing with single task, and (4) O-D: one leg standing with dual-task. In addition, brain activity was measured when the participants were in these postures by fNIRS.