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. 2025 Apr 22;15(1):13877.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-88497-0.

Dual-task effects of walking-speed on inhibitory control and decision-making under risk

Carlotta Maiocchi  1 , Marta Milanesi  1 , Nicola Canessa  2   3 , Stefania Sozzi  4 , Giulia Mattavelli  1   5 , Antonio Nardone  6   7 , Claudia Gianelli  8
Affiliations

Dual-task effects of walking-speed on inhibitory control and decision-making under risk

Carlotta Maiocchi et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The effect of simultaneously performing two tasks (dual-task effects, DTEs) has been extensively studied, mainly focusing on the combination of cognitive and motor tasks. Given their potentially detrimental impact on real-life activities, the impact of DTEs has been investigated in both healthy individuals and patients. In this Registered Report, we aimed to replicate previous DTEs when a task requiring executive-inhibitory skills is involved while also expanding the evidence on basic facets of decision-making. We recruited 50 healthy young participants who performed a stop-signal task and two gambling tasks (loss-aversion and risk-aversion) while sitting and while walking at three treadmill speeds (normal, slow and fast). We report a significant difference in performance during single-task and dual-task, although with high individual variability. The data show no effect of the walking speed on all the cognitive tasks. Analyses on postural alignments, assessed in the cadence, gait cycle length and stance phase, confirm previous results on cognitive prioritization strategies of healthy individuals. Based on our results, we highlight the need to further investigate prioritization strategies when tasks involving higher cognitive functions are performed along a motor task in healthy individuals and patients with the aim of offering targeted training and rehabilitation protocols. The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 28/06/22. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/5MWH7 .

Keywords: Cognitive-motor-interference; Decision-making; Dual-task; Inhibitory control; Walking speed.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval: The protocol for this study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri SpA SB, Pavia (approval n. CE 2538). All methods were implemented in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. Participation was voluntary, and participants gave their written informed consent to the procedure prior to the beginning of the first session.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Absolute values of DTE (%) in SST, LA and RA cognitive tasks. In the first panel (a) the DTE (%) against the test value = 0 is represented; (b) represents DTE (%) in LA and (c) shows RA.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
HP2a—Effect of Treadmill speed on executive functions. Raincloud plots show the distribution of DTEs (%) as difference between normal and faster-than-normal speed, and between normal and slower-than-normal speed.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
HP2b—Effect of Treadmill speed on decision-making (LA). Raincloud plots show the distribution of DTEs (%) as difference between normal and faster-than-normal speed, and between normal and slower-than-normal speed.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Correlations during the dual-task condition performed in medium speed. The first figure (a) shows cadence; (b) step length and (c) the gait cycle time. Each DTE is correlated with the DTE of the SST during medium speed.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Observed patterns of cognitive-motor interference reported following Plummer & Eskes’ framework. Each measure is expressed as a means of DTE in SST during self-selected speed and stride length.
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